New Generation
by E.Morde
Summary: Meridian had peace for 96 years. After Queen Elyon crowns a new Queen and retires to Kandrakar, an ancient evil awakens. A new generation of guardians must be summoned from Earth. Five teenage girls find themselves with magical powers and are sucked into the chaos. Will they be able to help Meridian, or will the dark ages return?
1. Chapter 1

'Long live Queen Anna!' the whole kingdom erupted with cheers. A new queen had been crowned in the world of Meridian. Queen Elyon had stepped down from the throne so that her only daughter could take over. Elyon could now join the High Council of Kandrakar, just as planned 96 years ago. Also on the council were the former guardians of Air, Hay Lin, and of the heart of Kandrakar, Will Vandom. On Earth they were no longer living souls; but they were very much alive in Kandrakar since magic had allowed them to live a life on Earth and return in the life after.

Anna was a high spirited woman with a knack for understanding people. She knew how to read them and find out what could be wrong; it was a skill many people do not posses and were never blessed with. Who better to rule the land? She had a daughter, Tia, who had gone on a visit to Earth to learn about the life there. She had been there for a year and visited every day since portals were now (and long before) safe to open. But Tia had come back for her mother's coronation and as next in line, she had to take interest.

Anna was standing alone in the throne room, her head held high, practising walking like a queen. Her long fair hair was braided down her back and stood out on her deep green robe. Her dress underneath it was a lighter green. The door to the room creaked open but Anna did not notice until her daughter was hugging her from behind.

'Mother!' she laughed. Anna smiled back and hugged her daughter.

'Hello, darling! How was today?' she asked as they walked toward the large set of stairs in the main corridor of the palace. There were portraits of all the royal family for the last three centuries. Most of them smiling and some had stern faces. One in particular almost glared at you from the wall. Prince Phobos. He was Elyon's brother, but he was rarely talked about because he had tried to murder her and take her rightful powers. His reign had been known as the Dark Ages, and the people of Meridian had suffered deeply. Luckily with the help of the rebellion and Guardians of the Veil, he had been stopped just in time and defeated. The Light of Meridian restored fully.

'It was okay, school was boring but I went out into the city with my friends.' Tia replied. Her short blond hair was tied in a small knot at the back of her head and she was wearing her Earth clothes as she had not had a chance to change.

'Oh? Those four girls? Who were they again?' Anna gathered her the hem of her long dress and climbed the stairs after her daughter. Tia looked back at her mother, smirking.

'Can you really not remember their names?' she laughed.

'I'm sorry darling, I'll try.' Anna said apologetically.

'Okay, their names are Mei Lin, Ashley, Natalia, and Kara.' Tia said in one breath.

'Yes, I remember Mei Lin, the name Lin sounds familiar to me for some reason...' Anna trailed off.

'Doesn't matter, I have to do some homework, see you later Mom!' Tia was beginning to fit in more with the Earth girls and Anna was happy for her. After all Tia was turning fifteen in a few weeks, it'll be good for her to have friends, but just not bring them to Meridian. Meridian was one of the best kept secrets for all Anna was concerned. From her mother Elyon she had heard the many stories of adventures that the Guardians of the Veil and herself had many years ago. Earth sounded intriguing however odd it may have been at the time.

'As long as Tia's happy and safe, then I have nothing against Earth.' Anna murmured to herself as she continued on her way.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun rose over the bland bricked buildings, inching up their high walls, and illuminating the city. Somewhere in that town lived five very important girls. They were yet to understand who they were truly. An uncanny feeling of change hung in the air over the newly lit concrete world. Everything else was happening as normal - the traffic of cars and bikes and buses and all pedestrians trying to share the streets in a civilised way however difficult it may be. A horn blasted here, a shout of ridicule over there, the screeching of wheels accompanied the sounds of life.

A motorcycle was starting up on the east side of town, in a secluded street far away from all the noise and buzz of town, its rider was a young man adjusting a helmet over his dark hair. His younger sister was closing the front door of the house, jingling the keys and turning around to wave at him. He nodded quickly and revved the engine of the bike, then sped down the street in a moment. Michael and Kara lived with their dad Jem, who owned the local motor shop down town. The small family of grease monkeys had their ways of getting along, usually functioning as a normal family, but sometimes just speeding off into their own worlds of machines. Kara left to go the other way to her brother. She walked to school alone most days but would sometimes go with a friend. Her friends lived close by, though most would argue friendship was never too far away.

Soon the sounds of traffic reached Kara, crept on her through her headphones and appeared bright and loud in front of her in the form of cars and cars and more cars stacked together on the main road through the city. It was not a huge place however it had always had problems with its population getting around. Kara walked on her usual route to school, having had agreed to meet with a friend for this morning. It had been a week since school started and things were more or less already decided for how the year was going to function. Classes were beginning to get increasing livelier and students were starting to become more awake with their work.

The last few bends in the road came and went and Kara found herself standing outside the Silver Dragon restaurant; her friend Mei Lin's great grandmother Yan Lin had opened it up many years ago. Her grandmother Hay Lin had passes it on to Mei Lin's parents just as her parents had passed it down to her. The whole succession was more important than Mei Lin could imagine since as well as the restaurant, came a responsibility which would not only affect her, but her friends too.

Kara opened the door and fell into the warm air coming from the inside of the kitchens. It was still early morning but cooking started early enough so that the lunch hour could be catered for. Mei Lin was still wearing her apron as she placed some dishes over the island in the middle of the kitchen. She noticed Kara waiting on the other side of the restaurant, and waved. Her long black hair was pulled into pig tails and her mint shirt was untucked from her jeans. Kara on the other hand was wearing a black jumper and jeans; the two looked in most ways opposites. They were both very brash about what they wore but in different senses of the word.

Kara raised her hand in response, and pointed to the clock; the two would be late for school if Mei Lin took much longer. Alarmed, Mei Lin threw off her apron and grabbed her bag momentarily and rushed after her friend.

'Morning!'

'Hey, I thought it wasn't your shift today?' Kara asked. Mei Lin shouldered her bag and fell in step with her dark haired companion.

'Yeah, but ever since grandma passed away, my parents want me to keep busy, y'know?' Mei Lin brushed away a stray strand of hair. Kara looked down at her messy boots.

'I guess, but shouldn't they cut you some slack? You've been working the entire summer and now that school started you need to rest up.' Kara glanced at Mei Lin's frown.

'I'm not going to object, it doesn't matter anyways.' She paused. 'Did you find out about that weird kid, Will?' she asked with a little more liveliness. Kara rolled her eyes.

'Yes, we went home the same way, he lives on the street behind mine.'

'And? Anything else? C'mon! No one knows anything about him and it's been a week. Something is up with him, believe me.' Mei Lin exclaimed.

'Why do we care anyway? He's just another person that goes to our school.' Kara shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans, and fished out her phone.

'Well, I don't particularly but he sits next to me in math class and we don't talk and that's odd.' Mei Lin was very bubbly and friendly so when someone didn't warm up to her, it was a strange feeling of rejection in her eyes. Of course her friends didn't think so since they liked her anyway.

'Look, I sit behind you and I see that he doesn't really want to talk. Leave him be, Mei Lin.' Kara read the message on her phone and sniggered. Michael had gotten to college and was wondering where his keys were. She tapped out snarky reply and continued on her way with Mei Lin who skipped up to catch a leaf falling from a nearby tree.

The girls reached school and split off to go to their lockers. The kid previously mentioned, Will had a locker next to Kara's however the latter didn't know so until she closed her locker and the one next to hers was opened. The clang of the lockers made her jump. Each one looked up and caught the other's eye. Will was a tall boy with chin length brown hair and a concerned face. His brows we arched slightly in surprise as Kara had seemed caught unawares at the sound of metal closing on metal. A second passed and finally Kara broke off their competitive staring and turned to go. Will stared after her and rolled his eyes. Kara frowned at the encounter as she walked away. Mei Lin was right, something was weird about him.

In class Mei Lin met up with the others; Ashley and Natalia. They waited for Kara and Tia to show up. Tia was sorta friends with the four but also had her distance from them, they'd only really started being friends at the end of the last school year. The summer had come and gone and none of them had heard from Tia. She was somewhat a ghost among them. But now that school had begun, they included her as much as she was there to be included and not somewhere else…

Ashley was a fiery spirit with hair just right to match her personality. She had a flaming, orange mess of locks and freckles peppered across her face, and that stood out from whatever odd combination of jeans and shirt she wore each day. On the other hand Natalia was a calm, sensible girl with dark auburn hair kept in a tidy pony tail. It was bushy and somewhat curley but Natalia kept it in order – it was interesting because whenever no one was around, she liked to loosen it and let it splay around her face.

The trio were sitting at a desk, occasionally glancing towards the door in case either Kara or Tia showed up but the only person which came through the door was a new girl. She had been there last week too but no one had noticed her much. She had long fair hair braided to the side and a grey cardigan. The girl looked about her as she went to sit down at the back of the classroom by which point none of the three were looking at her. Perhaps they should have invited her to sit with them.

Soon, Kara joined her friends and they spoke about today's meeting after school. They were all going to go to Mei Lin's to hang out. Tia had said she couldn't come because she had to help her mother with "chores". It wasn't far from the truth but "chores" were more like a queen's duties. Tia was going to be taught more about the ways of running a kingdom for when her turn came to rule.

'That's okay, Tia, you can come next time or something.' Mei Lin smiled.

'Thanks anyways.' Tia said. Internally she was a little disappointed she had to lie but of course, Meridian was a secret. Her mother had sent her here to study the ways of the earth people and so that she could fit in. Tia didn't want to always be known as the queen's daughter, because in Meridian, that's who she was. Here she was Tia. Just Tia.

The bell was going to ring any moment now, so Tia said her farewells and went to the other classroom hastily. She was the only one of the group in the other class and so they rarely saw her as it was. Once she was gone the three left continued talking.

'Hey, maybe we should invite Cleo.' Ashley piped up. The redhead motioned to the girl sitting at the back of the class. Her head was now buried in a book. The four looked at her in turn. Cleo hadn't made any friends yet, and it was becoming more obvious with every day. Ashley actually felt very sorry for her because that was the same situation she had a couple of years ago before she met Natalia in class over a project.

'Sure, but I don't really know her, guys.' Mei Lin said.

'She seems okay, I'm her lab partner and I guess she's smart, that chemistry assignment from last week? She did it in 10 minutes and it took most people half an hour.' Natalia added.

'Think about how she must feel; she doesn't seem to know anyone and it can get pretty lonely around here. I say we invite her.' Ashley persisted.

'Okay, fine, I have art with her next so I'll ask then.' Kara concluded. The rest nodded and split up when the teacher walked through the door. Will slipped into the classroom at the last moment and rushed to a spare seat next to Cleo. Ashley looked back for a moment and felt a pang of guilt; the cycle of new people coming in was rather sad since they always ended up being alone at the back of the room. She knew she had to do something so she nudged Kara's foot under the desk. Kara shrugged the sleeves of her jumper down a little and gave Ashley a tiny nod as the bell rang.


	3. Chapter 3

At the end of the day the girls met up outside the school gate and waited for Cleo to come. Kara made sure that Cleo was convinced they wanted her along; she was rather suspicious why they had invited her oddly enough since no one had really talked to her most of the previous week except in lessons but Cleo had agreed to come. The reason why she didn't trust anyone yet was because she knew people all too well; they were disappointing whatever city you went to and with the amount of different places Cleo had been, it was easy to understand why she seemed so stand off-ish.

Cleo emerged from the building and looked at the four in surprise. They were actually there, and they were waiting for her! She smiled for the first time in what felt like forever and hurried to the group. The four smiled at their new friend and greeted her.

'Hey, thanks for inviting me, you guys.' Cleo said once they were on the streets. Mei Lin walked at her side, Kara singularly behind them and Ashley in the back with Natalia.

'It's okay, you looked like you could use a friend.' Ashley said.

'Yeah, I guess I could.' Cleo laughed.

They continued walking through the somewhat empty streets of Heatherfield in the late afternoon sun, making small talk about this and that, mostly asking Cleo questions about where she came from and what it was like. As Heatherfield wasn't a city of huge magnitude, the girls were wondering about life outside it even though nothing quite beats home. Cleo answered as best as she could but all she could really say was that she only had the essence of a city before her family had to move again. She secretly hoped Heatherfield would be different and that maybe she could stay here. Her parents' jobs would be the deciding factor for that. Little did they all know that Cleo would have to stay no matter what…

The small group finally reached the Silver Dragon. Mei Lin pushed open the door and let her friends go through. The smell of chow mein and other delicacies wafted in the air, nipping at the girls' noses. It was warm and cosy in the room behind the till, lit candles and small pots of different sized bamboos decorated the window sills of tall glass panes. There was a wooden chest with large double doors in one corner of the room, next to the window a broom was placed gingerly, and a large dining table in the middle of the room. Mei Lin invited her friends to sit down whilst she hurried to get something they could snack on. Kara went with Mei Lin to help which left Ashley, Natalia and Cleo at the table.

'I've never been in a Chinese restaurant; it's way more interesting than I thought.' Cleo's eyes were taking in the room's décor and its red walls with hand painted golden flowers and cherry blossoms all around. It was very pretty.

'Yeah, wait till you try some of the food, it's awesome!' Natalia said. Ashley nodded in agreement. As if on cue, Mei Lin and Kara came back in with a couple of plates each with different rolls and dumplings stacked on top. Everything looked amazing and was mouth wateringly good; the girls snacked for a little and did some of the assignments from today. There wasn't that much to be done but it still took a good portion of their attention. A quiet thumping woke the girls from their homework induced trance. It was light tapping on wood or something of the sort. The group shared some looks of suspicion and each thought that someone was knocking on the door of the room. Mei Lin went to see but there was no one there. There was nothing at the windows for it could have been some bird or other critter but no. The thumping continued.

'What is it?' Ashley looked out the window again. Natalia scanned the room for things it could be when her gaze settled on something in the corner; her eyes widened in shock and she pointed to the wooden chest silently. Each girl turned to see what Natalia was pointing at – one of the doors of the chest was slightly ajar and a tiny pink glow was emerging from the inside. The thumping started up again and this time the light moved with it. Whatever it was, it wanted to get out.

Mei Lin stepped toward it but Kara caught her arm in warning. She pointed to the broom. Mei Lin nodded in agreement and reached for it. The two approached the chest together and Mei Lin stretched out the broom to the doors of the chest to open them further. A loud thump caught them all by surprise and each one jumped a little in shock. Kara supressed a giggle and gently took the broom from Mei Lin's hands who then smiled in gratitude. Kara didn't waste any more time in opening the doors and letting the glow grow. It was a pastel pink light but bright enough to make the girls squint. It came from a smaller wooden box decorated in the same fashion as the room.

'Why is it doing that?' Natalia hid behind Ashley a little bit but kept her eyes level with the orb. Kara went to pick up the box and with little struggle she bought it to the table and placed it in the middle. A small hook kept the contents from breaking out. The box thumped on the table; it moved up and down as if something alive was in there. The eyes of the girls were all glued to the object in the middle of their circle. The pink light was reflected in each of their eyes, giving them a slightly glazed over look. The orb held them captive or so it seemed. Ashley reached her hand forward and gently moved the hook so that the box could open. As soon as she removed her hand from it, the box erupted in more light and the thing which thumped got out. It was a necklace with a spherical pendant. It was the source of light and it looked absolutely timeless. The pendant rose into the air just above the girls' heads and spun around moving around the circle until it stopped before Kara. Her eyes were wide with surprise as were the rest of eyes in the room. Within the next second the room of the Silver Dragon had disappeared and had been replaced with white and light mint green pillars in a high ceilinged hall. It was bigger than any cathedral or church on Earth, and it was immaculately clean. The huge marble doors were open and through them more of the same building could be seen as well as a water fountain in the next hall. Tiered seats carved of marble surrounded the girls and some of those seats were occupied by wise looking elderly people who all wore the same white and mint robes which appeared to be made of silk. Nearest to the girls were three older women who sat on the first row of tiered seats. One woman had bright crimson hair, the one in the middle had long braided hair and the third one with dark hair which flowed long past her waist. They smiled at the five girls who now stood in the centre of the large hall.

'Welcome to Kandrakar girls.' Said the third one. Mei Lin stared hard at the woman and after a moment decided she was losing her mind.

'Grandma?!' she exclaimed. She moved towards her but seemed to hesitate. The woman smiled in response.

'It's me, Mei Lin, don't be scared. You're really here.'

'Kandrakar – it sounds like that story you used to tell me as a kid. With those fairies.' Mei Lin forgot about her friends for a little because of the shock of seeing her grandmother who did pass away by Earth standard, standing right in front of her.

'It wasn't just a story. I was telling you about myself and my friends when we were your age. We were the guardians of the veil.'

'I'm sorry, but what is going on?' Natalia spoke from behind Ashley who stood staring in awe at the great architecture around them.

'Perhaps we should explain, Hay Lin?' the red haired woman quipped up. Hay Lin nodded.

'Yes, Will.'

Will held up the pendant from the room in the Silver Dragon; it was still glowing pink. She floated down to where the girls were standing and let the pendant fly into the air above. The blond woman stood her ground but seemed to smile at the change of aura. The pink pendant showed a large projection of some different planets. It shifted around as Hay Lin spoke.

'The universe was once a single kingdom ruled by good,' Hay Lin paused. 'But evil began to take root. A veil was created to isolate the evil kingdom of Meridian from all other worlds. Without the protection of this veil, every world including Earth was in terrible danger. Meridian was taken over by a powerful entity named Phobos but he was not the legitimate ruler. They believed the true heir to the throne was somewhere on Earth. This was more than a century ago. Since then portals have been opening in the veil, doorways from that world to ours. The real ruler of Meridian was found by Phobos who planned to take her powers for himself, but the five guardians of the veil stopped him and restored the Light of Meridian.' The girls were utterly confused but very curious about the story which Mei Lin's grandmother was telling.

'Meridian then lived a very peaceful age under Queen Elyon's rule.' Will said. She stood back and motioned to the blond woman who smiled slightly at her friends.

'This is Queen Elyon.' She said.

'I'm not a queen any more, my daughter took over for me, Queen Anna. She rules over the kingdom now. And you five are the new guardians. That is the Heart of Kandrakar.' Elyon pointed to the pendant which now circled low and floated back to Will. She caught it in her hand and held it out.

'It has found its keeper.' She turned to Kara who stared wildly at the light.

'Me?' she asked. The three women nodded.

'You are the keeper of the Heart. You have the power to open and close portals, and unite the guardians. Not as hard as it sounds, trust me.' Will gave the Heart to Kara. She looked at the floating pendant above her open palm and back up to Will.

'I don't understand why this is happening.' Was all that she could muster.

'Grandma, wasn't there that myth about the nymph, Xin Jing and her four dragons?' Mei Lin broke in. Hay Lin was standing next to her granddaughter. She nodded.

'Yes, it is the origin of your powers. Xin Jing wanted to save the dragons from her father's cruelty. The dragons represented each of the four elements. They came together with the Heart.' Hay Lin explained.

'Kara, say the words "Guardians unite" and see what happens.' Will patted Kara on the shoulder and moved away. Hay Lin did the same and the two moved back to where Elyon was standing. The five girls looked at one another in wonder.

'Guardians…unite.' Kara held the pendant up and it floated to the middle of their circle once again glowing brightly. Natalia took a step back, Cleo squinted at the light and Ashley smiled. Mei Lin tried to remember anything else her grandmother had told her as a child. There were so many stories of adventure and friendship, it was impossible to remember everything all at once. The other guardians she had seen in photos, there was Irma and Teranee and Cornelia as well as Will and Hay Lin. They had defeated Phobos and an evil sorceress to keep the universe safe.

The five's feet left the ground and the light shone in between them turning into shades of pink blended in with white. The transformation took place in the split of a second but to everyone it seemed much longer. Each girl emerged in a strange outfit with wings. They had blue and pink shirts and skirts, all with different patterns on the hem of waist, of different length and symbol where their heart should be, all combined with blue and green striped leggings. It was the oddest combination but it was rather pretty anyways. They all stood in shock about what had just taken place.

'The need for guardians has arisen. After my daughter's coronation in June, there have been strange stirrings in Meridian. Evil is rising again and I'm afraid that my daughter won't be able to handle it all on her own. There are other worlds with problems too, you must act as peace keepers.' Elyon explained.

'Let's see who has which element.' Hay Lin approached the girls. She passed each one in turn and smiled.

'Natalia, you are the earth guardian.' The symbol of a circle with a dot lit up on Natalia's shirt. She looked down at her hands in wonder.

'Ashley, you are fire. Just as I suspected.' Hay Lin continued. Ashley looked surprised for a moment but at this point it didn't make sense to be shocked. They'd all seen plenty in the last few minutes.

'Cleo, you are the water element.' Cleo stood wide eyed and confused.

'Which leaves you granddaughter with air, just like me, and your great-great grandma Yan Lin.' Hay Lin concluded. Will came forward and addressed Kara.

'You have the power of quintessence, which is the fifth element. It's sorta the balance between all of them. Oh, and you may start to hear electronics talking to you, don't mind them, just make friends.' Will laughed.

'Yes, ma'am.' Kara giggled at the thought of talking to her phone.

'Girls, you must practise your abilities until you are needed in Meridian or anywhere across the veil. There's a nice spot below the bridge and behind the dumpster in Heatherfield. It's quiet and pretty empty all the time. No worry about damage. You must keep this a secret too.' Will said.

'Nobody can know. Also granddaughter, look in the wooden cabinet when you get back. There is a map to help you find any portals and some other things to help you.' Hay Lin winked.

'Thanks, grandma.' Mei Lin finally hugged her grandmother; she was convinced it was her now. 'I wish I could tell mom and dad you're still alive.' She whispered.

'Darling, I'll be here for a long time. You can come visit sometimes. Kandrakar is one of the safest worlds in the entire universe. It's where the council meets, they can help you, just come here and seek them.'

'Okay. But how do we get back home?' Mei Lin asked.

'Kara, this is up to you.' Will nodded at the pendant. 'You can open portals with that and make sure to close them.' she added.

Kara looked down at the Heart and then held it up defiantly. A blue light emerged in the space before her and a large circle formed.

'We wish you luck girls, everything is in the Heart, remember that.' Elyon gave the group a nod.

'If help comes to you, do not turn it away…' Will smiled knowingly. Hay Lin waved after her granddaughter sadly; she would see her again soon hopefully. Mei Lin smiled and waved back as she went through the portal. Natalia, Ashley and Cleo had gone through silently and in shock. Kara looked back one last time and went through the portal. They found themselves back in their normal clothes and in the basement of the Silver Dragon.


	4. Chapter 4

'What the heck just happened?' Natalia yelped. She was leaning on one of the cold grey walls of the basement, looking around at her friends. Kara still held the heart as she closed off the portal and next to her Ashley, Cleo and Mei Lin stared at the light dying off. Ashley was first to recover.

'I don't know, but it was awesome – we're gonna be like superheroes or something!' she grinned. She snapped her fingers and a little flame propped up. Everyone stared at it until Ashley made it disappear. Natalia shook her head in disbelief.

'I remember all these stories grandma used to tell me. The passing of the job is a tradition. There's so much we need to learn!' Mei Lin started pacing around the basement and everyone else sat on whatever was available – maybe a stool, or a crate or a ledge.

'It's unbelievable. Everything we know about the world has changed in the span of a few minutes.' Cleo mused. She was most confused because she had only just moved to Heatherfield and this was one of the first things to happen, how amazing!

'Are we actually going to do this?' Natalia asked. Everyone looked at her sharply. She shrunk back a little bit.

'We have a responsibility now. We can't turn our backs on this, it's a lot bigger than us, guys.' Kara said. Ashley nodded.

'We totally need to know what we're doing though. Should we make up a practise schedule?' she suggested.

'Yeah, we can do it after school, that place grandma mentioned – I think that could work well.' Mei Lin bounced up and down with a smile. She was excited that her grandma was still with her in a sense. Something was connecting them even now when Hay Lin had moved on.

'What about your shift, Mei Lin?' Kara asked. 'You're gonna have to make something up. And I need to tell Mike I joined a club or something.'

'That's true, I hate lying to my parents though. What about you guys?' Mei Lin sat down finally next to Natalia on a ledge.

'I think my family will be relieved I actually leave the house.' Cleo laughed half-heartedly. Her little sister Lola always asked her why she never went out and it was hard to answer without sounding lonely. The girls joined in Cleo's laughter and it felt like they had been friends for a long time even though Cleo was a new addition to their group.

'I think we need to look at that cabinet.' Mei Lin started for the stairs. Each girl followed and they found themselves in the small room from before. They sat around the table whilst Mei Lin rummaged around the cabinet looking for the map and anything else. A few seconds later she pulled out a photo album with some pages sticking out and an old envelope which looked as if it hadn't been touched in many years. The girls waited eagerly as Mei Lin placed the items on the table. The plates from before lay discarded on the wooden chest's top and the flames of the candles swayed dangerously low as if they were going to be extinguished by some unseen force, the light of the room flickering as the guardians started to examine the evidence of a different age. There were many photos of the previous guardians – there was only a few where they were in their guardian form and the rest were all taken on Earth. In the photos were other people too; friends and allies of the five. Each photo was labelled on the back with a year and who's in it.

Each girl had a stack of photos to look at and process as well as some of the loose pages to read. It was quite a lot to take in at first but eventually they each got the hang of it. Kara mostly saw photos of the guardians' vacations – a sunny beach, a ski trip, some concerts and other fun fairs. One photo in particular caught her eye. It was of the red headed woman in Kandrakar when she was younger and presumably her boyfriend. What really interested Kara was that the boy in the photo reminded her of someone. It was irking her that she couldn't quite place the image on the paper with one from her own memories. The back of the photo read: 'Will and Matt, summer before senior year.' Kara placed it back in the pile, still annoyed that she was missing something.

Across the table Natalia had found a group photo of the guardians, Queen Elyon and another man who according to the back of the photo was called Caleb. He had his arm around a smiling Cornelia and in the other he held a sword. The photo made Natalia smile involuntarily and she nudged the others to look at it too.

In response Ashley showed the rest of the gang a photo she had found; it was from Hay Lin's wedding. She wore a traditional Chinese wedding dress and her hair was pulled up into two buns, a wolfish smile plastered on her face. She was holding hands with a dark haired man with dimples, who was grinning as if there was no tomorrow.

'That's my grandpa, Eric. He was a jazz musician. He married my grandma a few years after they graduated.' Mei Lin recalled. She had seen many photos of him as he travelled around playing music, and when she was little he would play the saxophone sometimes. He had passed away a few years before her grandmother.

'They look so happy there.' Ashley passed the photo to Mei Lin. She took it and smiled.

'They were, very.' She whispered.

'Guys look!' Cleo exclaimed. She passed a photo to the middle. It was old and tattered but it was clear. It was of Queen Elyon, Caleb and a short, green creature who resembled a frog. He wore a dull orange shirt and grey slacks and his feet were bare.

'Who's that?' Kara laughed. Cleo turned the photo and read it out loud.

'"Elyon, Caleb and Blunk." Well I guess that him then, Blunk.'

'Weird, grandma never mentioned him.' Mei Lin shrugged. The girls laughed at Mei Lin's puzzled face.

'Of course she didn't, what would she have said?' Kara grinned.

The five continued looking through photos and information until the map emerged from one of the stacks. Kara had found it using a little help from the Heart of Kandrakar. She hummed in appreciation of the jewel and put it around her neck once again. It stood out against her mostly dark attire in a most ironic fashion. The map was somewhat torn and faded but the Heart helped reinforce the lines which were there. The streets were strangely arranged – it almost didn't seem like Heatherfield in the first place. A red cross appeared on the page as Kara held the Heart to it.

'Woah, why did it do that?' Natalia asked. Mei Lin scrunched her brow in thought.

'I think that's where we are actually. If you think about it from this angle – here,' she pointed to a corner intersection. 'Then we can imagine this is the main road and the Silver Dragon is here.' She moved her finger along the line and to the red cross.

'Phew, I thought it was one of those portal thingies.' Ashley sighed.

'Well, let's hope that we don't have to worry about those. I'll keep an eye on the map and tell you guys if I see anything. I gotta get home; my dad's going to wonder where I am.' Kara folded the map and placed it into her bag.

'See you tomorrow.' She said and went out the door.

'I should probably go too guys, I need to pick up my Patty from basketball.' Ashley pulled on her jacket and waved to the remaining three girls.

'He's twelve now, you don't need to stress out so much, Ash.' Natalia rolled her eyes. She and Cleo gathered their things and said their thanks to Mei Lin and left, splitting up on the main road and heading home.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Natalia was stuffing her books into her bag as she held a piece of toast in her mouth and slipping her shoes on at the same time. She managed the tasks without losing her breakfast then staggered a few steps because she had forgotten to tie her laces. She reached down and did them quickly, on her toes and ready to run out the door. Her mother called her from the kitchen before she could make her escape to the shed where her bike was.

'Nat!'

'Yeah, mom?' Natalia poked her head through the door and waited. Her mother was just putting some dishes before washing her hands.

'Remember we're having guests tonight. I need you here as quick as possible.' Her mother gently threw the towel back onto its place after wiping her hands slowly. Natalia couldn't glare at her hard enough.

'Mom, you know I don't want to stay longer than being polite. I don't like them.' Natalia leaned on the door to prove her point with a frown.

'I know, but these friends have decided to take my side in the divorce and I want to show them appreciation even if you don't.' the glassy eyed woman crossed her arms and looked at her daughter as if to dare her to disagree. Natalia didn't.

'Fine, but honestly, if I have to talk to Robbie, I may punch him.' she warned. Robbie was the son in the family in question and had a mutual feeling of dislike towards Natalia. Reason being was from a long time ago when both their families were on vacation in the mountains, he had "accidently" pushed her into a mud hole. Ever since then Natalia and Robbie have had a very violent and hateful relationship if it could even be called that. It perhaps sounded better than mutual disgust.

'I'll keep you busy enough so that you don't have to make any contact with him.' her mother promised.

'Okay. Bye.' Natalia turned to leave.

'Nat?' her mother called. The bushy haired girl stopped and turned to her mother once again.

'Yeah?' she asked a little annoyed.

'Thanks.' At that Natalia's face softened and she half smiled.

'See you later, mom.'

Once outside, Natalia hurried to her bike and hopped on, peddling quickly to get out of her street.

A few kilometres away, Ashley was getting on her bike too, a small boy trailing her out the door. He had short red hair the same shade as Ashley and freckles. She shouldered her bag and waved back at her little brother.

'Bye, Patty!' she said and set off momentarily. Patty waved after his sister just as his father came out of the door and ushered the young boy to the car. Ashley was on the main road through town before they even got into the car, her speed faltering slightly as she passed a woman with a push chair; Ashley swerved sharply and avoided her by going around. The journey to school was short usually but depending on how many drivers were careless enough, it could take longer. Natalia and Ashley would usually meet at the intersection of a branched off street near their school, then would cycle down together.

After the girls arrived at school, they met up as normal, this time Cleo joining them as a new addition to their group. Tia appeared from behind Kara and sat down with the girls. They all smiled and greeted her, all of them just a little bit guilty that they couldn't tell her about the day before and how weird and extraordinary things would be from now on. Who knows if they were even going to do that job well though? They would have to try and that was the bottom line – the pressure was only just beginning. They had to help a queen! Some very normal but also very special girls from Earth had to help a queen in another dimension wasn't something to happen every day. The guardians would have to make it count. The bell rang soon enough and life carried on as normal.

At lunch, Cleo was first to sit down at an empty table on the edge of the cafeteria; her intention was to test out whether her new friends would actually join her and if everything from yesterday meant anything to them. Her eyes followed each one of them through the lunch queue, spying out each girl as she got her food and started coming towards her. First it was Ashley and Tia, chatting about something as they reached the table and smiled at Cleo. She smiled back in relief and relaxed as Natalia and Mei Lin came to sit down. Kara took a long time to get through the queue but she eventually made it, however on the way she was about to collide with a tall boy who Cleo didn't know. He stopped at just the right moment and the two glared at each other for a split second; Kara having to tilt her head to look at him as he was a few inches taller. They split off quickly, each stubbornly moving in the opposite direction to the other and stomping away. Kara looked somewhat furious as she dropped her tray on the table and looked behind her to see the boy staring back. She sat down, her face contorted in anger and she huffed a little.

'Woah, what happened there you angry little munchkin?' Mei Lin prodded her friend's arm to get her attention. Kara pulled her black beanie on the back of her head to make sure it didn't fall off and raised a brow at the question.

'Will, being annoying and weird as usual.' She picked up her fork and stuck it into a piece of cucumber.

'That's rich coming from you.' Ashley smirked. Kara half smiled at her.

'I know but seriously he's a lot worse than me. We had our lab partners switched and now we're together. I just can't stand his method of working on the assignment. It's as if he's trying to blow us up.'

'Ask for another switch?' Natalia said with a hiccup. The girls all giggled along as she tried to hold her breath in vain.

'No, he'll know and it's just not a very nice thing to do to someone else. I can at least work it out myself but another poor soul would have to try to keep up with him and I'm not sure that it's easy.' Kara picked up another piece of cucumber and popped it into her mouth.

'May I suggest you talk to him about it?' Tia was looking at her food as she spoke thoughtfully. 'I think if you can agree or compromise on something then it'll work better and you won't be as annoyed at each other.' She was worried it wasn't the right thing to say, but she had already done it and there was no going back.

'Maybe you're right, I just don't know how to talk to people that well. They're so much more complicated than my dad's machines.' Kara shrugged. Her father had taught her and her brother how to understand cars though not people.

'Well what are we, ducks?' Cleo smiled from across the table. Over the noise of the cafeteria, the group laughed all through lunch, each secretly grateful to have some company around.

As soon as school ended, Natalia bolted for her bike, remembering that she must go home to help her mother. Mei Lin hopped away for her own shift at the Silver Dragon, walking quickly through the densely packed streets. Cleo walked to her sister's school so she could be picked up there since their house was too far away to walk. Which left Tia, Ashley and Kara. Tia said that she was going to her grandma's house for dinner and quickly made her escape before the usual portal could close. It wasn't a lie but the girls didn't know where her grandma's house was. Ashley had taken her bike and instead walked with Kara to her dad's motor shop.

'We should probably try our pixie powers or something.' Ashley said.

'I know, I was going to suggest it at lunch but Tia was there and she doesn't know and we can't tell her.' Kara replied.

'We should text the girls and say to meet up tonight and do it.'

'Natalia's busy for sure, and we don't know if Cleo can make it either.' Kara thought about the jewel hanging around her neck. She had it on from yesterday without realising even though it had a most peculiar ability to disappear into her chest where her heart lay. She felt lifted when it was there, something powerful pushing her on unlike usual.

'Okay, but honestly yesterday I was testing stuff out; I managed to light a candle by looking at it.' Ashley giggled and Kara raised an eyebrow.

'That's so weird to hear, y'know?'

'Yeah, but we'll all get used to it soon.'

'I hope you're right…'


	6. Chapter 6

Kara slammed the door of the motor shop and helped her father lock it up. The early evening fog was floating down to the earth and covering the city, making everything look faded and ghostly; as if the world was now just an impression rather than the real thing. Kara was putting on her seat belt in the car whilst her dad activated the store's alarm. They had never been burgled but it was better to be safe than to be sorry.

They drove slowly, zigzagging through small streets to avoid any traffic on the way, the radio humming quietly in the background as the blur of the pavement whizzed past the car's windows. Kara thought about the jewel hanging around her neck; it was hidden at the moment beneath her dark hoodie and also her hair, but the weight of it was still there. She needed to get the others and actually try some of this stuff out. Ashley was right. They needed to be ready. Tonight was a miss however because there were parents and things in the way, but tomorrow was a must. What if Meridian needed them sooner than they expected? It would be very bad if they failed straight away. But failure was also out of the question.

'So how was school today?' Kara's dad said suddenly.

'It was fine, except chemistry, this guy nearly blew us up.' Kara shrugged. Her reflection stared back at her in the side window. Beyond that she could see lights from other cars and shops and houses, little orbs shinning in the darkness and a weird feeling took hold around her chest. There was something important in all those lights – they stood up and fought the darkness around them. Suddenly the weight of the Heart of Kandrakar seemed to make sense.

'Well, you have to be careful with fire, you know that right, sweetheart?' her dad asked. Kara laughed.

'Yes, Dad, I'm pretty sure I know that if you mess with fire, you get burned.'

'Gotta remind you, so next time, just don't let this boy poke around the fire.'

'Oh, I won't. Believe me.' Kara turned back to the twinkling lights of Heatherfield, looking at all the different constellations they made up in absence of the sky due to the mist.

On arriving home, Kara and her dad saw Michael's bike parked in front of the garage, the slim black metal blending in the darkness around it until the headlights shone on it. Kara's brother was barely in college and he had already gotten a part time job to keep him busy. Most of their life, Michael had looked after Kara and these days it felt to her like he was someone different. Sure they would still work on cars and bikes together with their dad, but it wasn't the same any more. Kara's gaze lingered on the motorbike for a second longer before she shook herself out of it and went inside.

The Heart made itself known when Kara was alone up in her room. It shone its bright pink light and floated off her skin and in front of her eyes. She told it to shush and shoved it under her hoodie for the moment. Kara knew though something was wrong.

'Dinner's ready!' there was a shout. Kara left her bag, containing the ancient map, on the floor and went downstairs. Inside it, a blue circle appeared etched onto the map. A portal had opened.

Downstairs Kara and her family ate together, some ready-made lasagne heated up by her brother. It was normal there to just eat something which didn't require much attention – this was a lasagne frozen from about three weeks ago when Kara's dad had a day off. He had made it whilst Mike and Kara helped around the shop.

As Kara swallowed the last few bites of her food, she felt the heart appear out of her chest, through her skin and just under her shirt. She covered it up with a cough and started to clear up as quickly as possible, all the while willing the Heart to stop what it was doing. She made it up the stairs just in time because the Heart then rose up into the air and pulled her forwards to her room. The jewels led her straight to her bag and guided her to it. She huffed and opened it to find the map. As Kara pulled it out, she sensed something weird immediately. She saw the blue circle on the map and gasped. This was so not happening. They needed to close the portal.

She reached for her phone and dialled Mei Lin's number. She must be done with her shift at the Silver Dragon by now.

Mei Lin answered after two rings.

'Hey, what's up?'

'Dude, we have a situation!' Kara said desperately, she was staring at the portal on the map. It wasn't showing signs of changing. 'There's a portal near the old rail station. The Heart was acting weird and then I saw the map and that's it. There's a portal and we need to round up the others.'

'Okay, slow down, are you sure it's the old rail station?'

'Yes, it's on the edge of town and there's usually very little activity there. Nobody goes there.' Kara recalculated the location of the portal just to be sure.

'Well, that's my point. Do portals just open up in convenient places? Like why is it there and not like in the middle of the city?' Mei Lin asked.

'Probably because whatever is trying to get through doesn't want to be noticed?!' Kara whisper shouted into the phone.

'Fine, okay, I'll call Natalia and you call the others. Meet at the Silver Dragon since it's on the way.'

'Okay, quickly!' Kara hung up and started dialling Ashley's number. She picked up on the first ring.

'Hello?'

'It's pixie time, there's a portal opened up at the old rail station. We're all meeting at the Silver Dragon. Be quick.' Kara was already putting the map into her pocket and lacing up her boots.

'Yay!' Ashley squealed into the phone. 'Okay, I'm leaving the house.'

The girls hung up and Kara called Cleo next.

'Hey, look we have a bit of a portal problem; we're meeting at the Silver Dragon now. Like literally just make something up and go.'

'Oh my god, is it from Meridian?' Cleo gasped.

'I don't know, it's just showing on the map. We'll find out soon enough.'

'Okay, see you there.'

'Bye.'

Kara was hopping down the stairs and into the living room where her dad was watching some football game on TV. Mike was in the kitchen doing the dishes.

'Dad, emergency study meeting at Mei Lin's. I gotta go, but I'll be back soon.' She said as she opened the door.

'Okay, honey, be safe.' Her dad yelled behind her. He felt a little puzzled at why she was suddenly leaving but he shrugged it off. He knew Mei Lin's family and they were good friends so she'd be okay.

From each house a girl left, having persuaded their parents with some most likely lame excuse, the four were going to the Silver Dragon. Natalia had been the most relieved about the portal, she no longer needed to stay with her mother's guests. Instead she was on her bike going to be a fairy with her friends. Cleo was walking briskly from her house and into the darkness of the streets around her. The lamps were dim and the fog was woven thickly everywhere.

Ashley had used the same excuse as Kara to get out of the house but her parents didn't mind it as much as the others'.

As Kara jogged slowly, she felt as if there was someone watching her; like they were following her almost. She kept turning around but there was no one there so she ran on, switching to a walk when she came on to the main road. The lights around her helped her relax and soon she forgot about the paranoid feeling.

The Silver Dragon came into view as did Mei Lin who was watching from her window. She jumped up from her position and disappeared. Kara stopped just outside and waited for Mei Lin. She made the same excuse that there was a study meeting and hopped out the door.

'Hey, it's better if they don't see you, they might get suspicious.' Mei Lin and Kara walked into the alley behind the restaurant and waited. Soon Ashley and Cleo arrived and now they waited for Natalia who zoomed into the alley with her bike.

'Sorry I'm late. Shall we?' she put down her bike on the side and joined in the circle of her friends. Kara held up the Heart and it started glowing pink once again.

'Guardians unite!' she said. The girls transformed in a flash of light, but since the alley was so secluded, it was unlikely anyone say it. The group tried their best to fly up as far as they could so that they were well above the city skyline and that they could travel faster by flight. The view was nothing like they could have imagined; the small stalactite lights of each street were forming small constellations across the city, igniting the darkness of the night all around them and burning through the evening fog.

'Uh, guys, where are we going again?' Cleo swerved down and up to catch up with Ashley and Kara at the front.

'Old rail station, it's just a little bit further from here.' Ashley pointed down to where the mass of lights were starting to dwindle down to dim points to where there were no lights.

'Right, we're just going into the dark outskirts of town at night. Nothing to worry about there.' Cleo sighed hopelessly. There was no room for fear but at the same time, the girls were nervous since they hadn't done this before. Little did they know about the task which lay ahead…


	7. Chapter 7

The girls landed around 100 feet away from the entrance of the abandoned rail station; the desolation all around was covered in dust and sand, leaving the building standing limply at one end. It was from a different time, something left behind as the world around it changed and grew. A sad relic that couldn't help itself. The building was two stories high and made of worn, rust coloured bricks, the cream paint from many moons ago not only chipped but mostly stripped and faded from the walls.

The Heart of Kandrakar around Kara's neck sprung to life once again and pointed in the direction of the building. She took the chain in her hand and wound a finger around to resemble a leash. With a sideways glance at one another, the guardians made for the front entrance, which was a high arc of bricks and what seemed to be remains of a glass door in the middle however the glass had long since been shattered and lay in pieces on the dust ridden floor. Instead of the door there was now a hole of blackness leading inside.

The rail station invited them in with its open entrance but the drop in the atmosphere quickly became apparent to the girls, the air suddenly ominously thick and unknown. As the pink light of the Heart shone in, the group could see it was relatively reassuring to peek inside the building. Kara led with the jewel illuminating only a spec of the grand open hall, the walls nearest to her glowing pink. Ashley stepped behind her and set her hand on fire; the flame was a soft blend of orange, red and yellow, barely making up for the entire cathedral hall they now found themselves in. From Ashley's fire came shadows, trailing the girls as they stepped in curiously. It was obvious this place had seen better days; a draft was coming in from somewhere and Mei Lin looked up to find that parts of the roof were missing and so only patches of the ceiling were complete. The station was pretty much a haunted ruin. Perfect place for their first mission.

Natalia and Cleo stuck together on the back of the group, looking around cautiously up and down at the dirty and torn apart state of the neglected palace. A loud crunching sound broke the silence, echoing loudly through the empty hall. Natalia looked down at the feet as she had felt her boot crush something small and brittle. Ashley turned back and shone a light on it; _it_ being a crumpling skull of probably a mouse or rat. The mistaken step had caused the small skeleton to which the skull belonged to lose its formation; the tiny ribcage had slid across the dust and the tail away from it. Natalia shuddered at the sight, holding back a whimper of disgust, and jumped away from it as noiselessly as she could.

The walls that surrounded the group were in varying degrees of decay, paint somewhat still intact though in some places there was graffiti and as Cleo walked she scanned the walls for all the different drawings. One particular caught her eye, the steady pace of her shuffling interrupted. It wasn't like the rest; it stood out on its own even though there were other drawings all around it and behind it. The drawing seemed to speak something to her. The edges were fading into the wall, but the painting in the middle made enough sense. Three lines had been slashed across a circle so they looked like a bear's claw marks, and in that circle lay some kind of strange symbol. Cleo stopped and stared. The others were too absorbed in the illumination and shadows all around them.

'Hey, guys?' Cleo mumbled. Her tone was still loud enough for the echo to carry out and seem like a shout in the void. The others doubled back and met Cleo who hadn't taken her eyes off the peculiar drawing. 'Look.' She pointed. Four pairs of eyes widened in disbelief and curiosity. As Kara shone the Heart on it, the three slashes and symbol in the middle glowed slightly around the edges, a barely white light coming from the drawing. What could it be? It was obviously special but why would it be here in this crumbling mess of a building? And who had done it?

Kara moved the Heart closer but the glowing was already fading. Was this something from Meridian? They had never been there so it was impossible to make sense of anything right now.

'Is that like a trident or something?' Natalia asked absentmindedly. She followed the lines of the slashes and the intersecting three lines which would make up the trident's forks. It seemed to fit however the other details of the circle were odd; there was something written in the thick, dark pattern surrounding the symbol. It had only been obvious because of the glow but it was still there.

'Come on, we can come back for that later, we need to take care of the portal.' Ashley quipped up from behind the others; she was holding her fire away from them so she couldn't inspect the painting for herself. Cleo glanced back one last time before they continued with their search by following the crystal. They turned a corner and one of the broken signs on the wall pointed to the platform just a little further on. Finally, they were getting somewhere. But in that new direction, the signs weren't the only noticeable things. On the other side of the hall, dimly lit by Ashley's fire and the jewel, the same painting loomed ahead. A breeze blew in from behind the girls eerily as the symbol glowed like its twin just a few tens of seconds ago. Ashley's flame danced as the breeze swayed it down a little, delicate wisps swirling around her hand.

'Okay this is officially freaky.' Mei Lin whispered. Kara trained her gaze on the trident, trying to make a connection which wasn't there, her brow scrunched in concentration, she suddenly felt like she was being watched again. Her mind was on high alert, wondering if they had been careful enough not to have been seen. After all they were in their guardian form and that was sorta hard to miss what with the wings and all.

'Things got freaky yesterday when the cupboard started glowing, we're well past freaky.' Kara turned around to inspect the falling shadows. Nothing. So why did she feel eyes glued to her?

The group followed the Heart to the platforms, trying to keep their minds at bay since the scare of the symbol had almost gotten under their skin. This wasn't an ordinary painting or whatever, there was something that the guardians could feel in their blood and they had to find out what it was. A different light came from around the corner, somewhat blue and electrifying. It must be the portal. They sped up a little and turned the corner to find their destination. The portal was circular and blue just like the one they had seen in Kandrakar except this one was a little more present rather than ghostly like in the light world of the high council. The darkness around this one accentuated its powerful glow.

'Well, let's close it and hope nothing got out.' Natalia laughed nervously. She was looking around the platform's emptiness; the tracks were old and tattered as everything around here and it looked like there hadn't been a train for at least 60 years or something. Various greenery had grown here and there, sprouting from a crack, maybe some dusty leaves sitting on the concrete – it was all a little sad how abandoned this place was. There was a time when it had been buzzing with life, a sense of adventure and hope filling the air as each passenger headed out on a train for something special. Now it was dead and empty.

'I suppose we'll know if anything got out.' Kara said as she held up the crystal to close the portal. The blue circular void closed in a flash, nothing but a light breeze remaining as evidence of activity.

'Well that was easy.' Ashley had stopped her fire whilst the portal was illuminating them but now the darkness of the night had caved in on them once again. Relieved sighs and smiles washed over the guardians. As they walked back the way they came from, the wind had picked up, blowing dust around and playing with Ashley's fire. The symbol was just there on the wall as they walked to it; no glowing this time or anything. Just the confusion hanging in the girls' minds.

'We could look around my grandma's memoirs and we could find out if it's from Meridian. Someone draw it on their arm or something.' Mei Lin suggested.

'I have a pen. I need to get it but...um…' Kara frowned down at her guardian clothes. 'Nevermind…' She had an idea – the Heart was in her hand and she wanted to see if she could use it as a pen. She carefully lowered the point of the metallic pendant keeping the crystal in place to the exposed part of her lower arm. The sleeves of her top weren't quite full so it was easy. The Heart glowed as the girls gathered around to watch – miraculously it worked! The symbol was lightly engraved on Kara skin, something like a faded tattoo but more obviously lined.

'Woah, that is the coolest jewellery I have ever seen!' Ashley exclaimed.

'I'll research this as much as I can.' Mei Lin said determinedly. 'If not we can ask grandma.'

'Hold out your arm, Mei.' Kara pointed the Heart at her but Mei Lin shook her head.

'Not a chance my parents won't see it, not happening.'

'Fine. I hope you remember it.' Kara pointed put the pendant around her neck again, sharing Ashley's smirk.

'Okay, I need to get back, my mom will kill me.' Natalia sighed in frustration, they had only been gone for almost an hour which was fine for most of them, but the excuse Natalia had given didn't involve an hour's absence on her behalf.

'Right, yeah I have stuff too.' Cleo shrugged hoping to get out of there as quickly as they could. It was creepy and too late to be out in some abandoned rail station, who knows how stable the structure was anyway? They continued on their way out. Ashley leading at the front and Kara supporting the back. Cleo stared at the symbol as she passed, mesmerised but the uniqueness of it and also the strange feeling pooling deep inside her chest. It had been grasping at her lungs since she saw it first but didn't realise it until now that the feeling had remained. It made her scared, something was wrong so it was better not to hang about for too long. Not in the dark anyway.

Ashley put out her fire as they made it out of the bricked arc, the guardians' footsteps quiet in the silence of the night. Kara was going slower so that she could have a moment to think; throughout the entire time there was a lurking of anxiety in her chest as if there was something breathing down her neck, it had started slow at first, just a pang but now it was full blown fear inside her mind. There was someone or something behind her and she knew it. It had been there all night and this was her last chance to notice anything before they disappeared. It had been watching.

For a second Kara paused just before passing through the door, turning back and inspecting the hall only to see nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing but the moonlight coming through the holes of the ceiling. Or a particularly bright star being reflected from behind one of the exchange desks. It was a pretty star but seemed only a spec from where Kara was standing. Perhaps it was just some left over shiny surface doing its thing and reflecting images. Kara picked up her step and followed her friends out into the night just as the little star shifted down and disappeared, its owner standing up from a crouching position behind the desk and looking after the girls in confusion…


	8. Chapter 8

The next day had passed in a flash; each hour was just a count down until the girls could once again use their powers and experiment. It was fascinating to imagine the possibilities. Last night the group had each gotten back home with an insatiable thirst to know more about the symbol. Mei Lin had immediately gone to look over the evidence, surprising herself that her parents had never looked through the photos and now that she hid them in a better place, they never would. It was better if they didn't know about Meridian and magic powers.

At the end of the school day, the girls met once again at the gate, leaving quickly to go to the Silver Dragon. It was easier leaving Tia this time; she had been complaining of a head ache so they suggested she went home to rest. Of course that's what she wanted them to think, getting away for her was easy too. It was sad to think that they all could have helped each other should they have known about the others' secret. Perhaps it was for the best not to endanger the princess.

The map lay in Kara's pocket, the corners of its folded form poking at her sides as it was stuffed into her jacket as much as possible. She had checked over it with the others when they reached the Silver Dragon and landed in the alley behind. The portal had vanished and the map only showed their location. Kara checked the map every few hours, the unfolding and folding back up becoming obsessive and strangely practised. By the third time she could do it with her eyes closed, hypothetically of course. The Heart lay on the soft skin a few inches below her throat, almost invisible but reassuringly present. She bought out the map from her pocket for the umpteenth time and glanced over it, relieved to find it empty as the group settled in various sitting spots in the basement. It was safer not to be discovered looking at strange documents by anyone in the restaurant. Mei Lin had found a little hiding spot which fit some of the photos comfortably under a floorboard of the cupboard room. The rest of the stuff was hidden in her room and various places around the house which were guaranteed to remain untouched.

'So…we need to go practise guys, I don't feel like I could do anything yet.' Natalia began. She fidgeted slightly as she sat on a stone ledge under the horizontal window which let in some light to the dark room.

'Well sure you could, you just haven't tried.' Ashley uncrossed her arms and clicked her fingers, a small flame appearing at the tip of her index finger. She blew on it and the flame ceased to exist. 'See?' she said pointedly at her friend.

'How about that pot over there? I've forgotten to water it since like August.' Mei Lin gestured to a brown pot filled with what seemed a dead rose plant in it. The stem was droopy and very melancholic looking. Natalia grimaced a little at the poor rose. She got up and went over to it, opening her palm and putting it over the top of the remaining plant, willing it to heal and become whole and healthy again. She curled her fingers slightly as the plant began to grow again, fresh buds sprouting and then opening up to reveal the light pink colour of the gentle petals. Five pairs of eyes widened at the phenomenon taking place in front of them, the urge to dismiss the magic incredibly powerful but also easy to ignore.

'I-' Natalia started. 'I didn't know I could even…do something like that, did you see it too?' she looked around in desperation at her flabbergasted friends.

'Yes but define "it"?' Cleo gaped at the pot. She looked down at her own finger tips, unsure if she wanted to find out what she was capable of. On the other hand Mei Lin was staring at the small trash can in the corner of the room, an idea sprouting in her mind. She raised her hand at the trash can and it flew into the air, spilling out all of its contents in the process, all the various items flying in a mini tornado then falling back together in the trash can with a clang as Mei Lin pointed her finger to the ground.

'Okay, we get it, let's not just completely give ourselves away…what if someone heard that?' Kara snapped slightly. She was all for doing this but there were people up in the restaurant who could have heard that.

'Fine, let's go play outside then, chief.' Cleo grinned and stood. The group grinned back all in different stages of excitement. They wanted to do try it already. Without any more delay, the girls got up and out of the basement quickly, skirting out of the Silver Dragon through the back. It was still light so they couldn't do their flying over the city trick. They walked instead, just like normal people. Their days of normal were definitely over now that they were the new guardians; the question was could they handle it?

'Guardians unite!' Kara said as soon as they had secured the large under city bridge area – the activity was dying above so it was all going to be pretty secretive and if not then they could probably witch the people into forgetting. Cleo had been trying to figure out if she had mind control powers; last night when she got home her parents were concerned as to what took so long and she willed them to forget she even went out. The miraculous thing is that it worked! Within the minute her parents were asking her if she was going out. She had just been out, she said, and yet…something was missing from their minds. They shrugged it off and told her to tell them next time. If it were only that easy…

Once the girls had changed form, the rush of power mixed with excitement imploded in their lungs, building the wind beneath their wings from within. Mei Lin flew off to the other side of the plain and back testing her wings in a flashy manner. She landed perfectly in the small huddle her friends had made.

'You guys have to try that!' she laughed.

'Flying drills! That's a brilliant idea. We can take it in turns to watch each other fly and then we can work on improving. I used to do that with hockey a lot.' Cleo felt a little brash suggesting something so boldly, but to her surprise the others nodded in agreement. It was a good idea.

'So who's going first?' Kara tucked the Heart into her own heart. Or wherever it went when it made itself invisible whilst she wore it. Ashley lifted off the ground effortlessly, turning in the air gracefully and zooming off the same way Mei Lin had. She returned momentarily, slowing down before touch down. The girls clapped at the display of technique – Ashley somehow seemed to be great at the whole guardian things already, and it was only two days.

'I'll try it,' Natalia said. She felt inspired by her friends' performances and hoped it was as easy as it looked. To her dismay, it was not. Natalia lifted off the ground fine but lost her balance and flew off to the side ending up falling into a trash heap. The urge to laugh plastered across the girls' faces but they thought it'd be a bit cruel.

'Hey, come on, let's try together.' Ashley helped Natalia out of pile and linked arms. 'Slowly, okay?' Natalia nodded uncertainly. Their feet left the ground and this time Natalia stayed upright and in the same place. Ashley smiled then tugged her arm forward as they flew off in the direction of the bridge itself. Natalia's hair whipped back from the force and she felt the cool air on her face thinking that perhaps this won't be as bad as she thought. To the girls this was a new hope, as it was for the council of Kandrakar and Meridian's people. It was the start of something new.

As the group each had a turn at flying, the sun fell from the sky, darkness flooding from above and beyond. The Heart appeared around Kara's neck, tugging her in the direction of the trash heap Natalia had tripped in earlier. Kara struggled slightly at first but let the jewel lead her. Behind the messy pile of cardboard boxes and trashcans there was a patch of bare ground and much to her horror Kara saw what the Heart was pointing to. There were footsteps marked in the patch. And they were fresh. Who could it have been? Would they have seen? Kara's previous haunch, from the night before to now, had now been proven. Someone must have seen. In a moment of plain fear and raw anger which Kara had not experienced since her mother left, she let herself drown in the rush of feelings. It was intoxicating how angry she was. Her hand formed a fist then shot out in front of her blasting the heap with a surge of power – a blue lightning of sorts flashed from her hand and she gasped in surprise as it blackened the pile after blazing it. Cleo was first to notice the outburst and pointed it out to Mei Lin. The two had been practising to make ice and cold winds. Now they rushed over to Kara who still stared at the set of footsteps. Cleo and Mei Lin looked around at first but settled on where Kara's gaze rested. Eyes widening and mouth opening, Mei Lin and Cleo turned to their friend.

'When did this happen?' Cleo's tongue felt dry as she asked the question. It was obviously recently but how so?

'I have no idea but clearly we need to be more careful.' Kara almost flinched at her own words. The sun was in the final stretch before disappearing completely. Natalia and Ashley flew over, having spent most of their time learning to swerve and dip nicely.

'Wow, what the hell?!' Ashley stomped over to the pile and shook her head, speechless for once.

'Maybe we should go?' Natalia suggested gently. She had seen the look on Kara's face and was sure their friend was about to explode worse than the garbage heap had a minute ago. What had gotten her so worked up? She was the only completely over the edge at this. Ashley had shrugged it off, Mei Lin and Cleo clearly puzzled and Natalia herself was a little scared but Kara – why?

'Hey, Kara, come on.' She put a hand over the dark haired girl's shoulder. She snapped to attention.

'Right, here.' Kara held out the Heart and the girls were back in their normal forms.

'Maybe we need to find a better place?' Cleo asked. She stepped back a little to examine the ground for more footsteps but there were none. Nothing but a small slide of mud which had been trodden on by the same shoes.

'I don't know but-' Ashley was cut off by a cardboard box falling from the heap. She stumbled back.

'Oh my god! I think I did that!' Natalia yelped. Her hand was pointing slightly at the box which lay on the ground now. She willed it to get back to its previous place and successfully moved it with the flick of her hand. The girls all smiled, even their stony faced leader cracked a little smile. Kara had been certain they were being followed and now it made sense. But who were they and how were they following?

'I need to get home, I have stuff to do, see you tomorrow?' Mei Lin said. She didn't mean to make it a question but her friends nodded at her and she went off, shortly followed by Cleo who headed out in the same direction for the most part, bag slung lazily over her shoulder. Ashley made an effort to get the others to leave quickly so that whoever it was watching wouldn't find them if they came back…


	9. Chapter 9

Nothing made sense to Cleo. Not right now. She was used to being confused from all the moving around and starting on lose ends and forgetting other ones, but this was by far the weirdest one yet. And the best. She hadn't been so trusting of the girls, giving any opportunity for her paranoia to set in; were they her friends or did they not know each other well enough? Was the guardian thing enough to keep them together? What if she had to move away again? What would happen to all of this? What was this?

'Stop it-' Cleo muttered to herself. She was walking to school from the bus stop. A crowd of people passing her by with each step, the different bodies shifting around and changing the feeling of the air. Cleo had always felt it – how the movement in the air changed. It was odd to her because now she knew why water always appealed to her, but the air thing? She couldn't do anything with it, but of course she was certain she felt the falling of air.

Yesterday, Cleo had tried the mind control theory on her little sister Lola. The two were sitting on the couch, drinking soda and watching some dumb quiz show whilst their parents went out to buy some groceries. Lola had left the remote on the small coffee table in front of the couch and forgotten the power within it – to spare them from the idiocy of people on TV. Cleo was about to reach out for it, but instead feigned stretching and fixing her side braid by tugging on the hair bubble. Lola didn't even blink. Cleo then leaned back and sidled into the couch and started chanting in her head. _Give me the remote._ She said it in her head over and over. After the third cycle Lola suddenly came to life and grabbed the remote from the table and presenting it to her sister.

'Here.' Then Lola sat back limply like before; she showed absolutely no recollection of what just happened. She didn't even notice Cleo had the remote in her hand. Cleo stifled an ecstatic grin trying to break out across her face, but she managed to let slip a little giggle. Lola turned slightly and then back seemingly disinterested. _This is awesome_ , Cleo thought.

The doors of the classroom opened up and a stern faced teacher walked inside. He was bored by the requirement of making an appearance all these years, each year a group of students coming in and then walking out and him being stuck there. Cleo was sitting down next to Natalia, who was trying to solve some mini many sided rubix cube which was pretty much rainbow coloured and didn't make any sense at first glance. The pair were the only girls from the group in that class; Kara, Mei Lin and Ashley were in history next door. This was geography, study of the Earth. How ironic the girls were learning about their own planet when it should really be about Meridian. When were they even going to see that place anyway?

'Good morning class, please turn to page twenty.' And so it began, another day of torture before they could switch their boring lives for something exciting.

Next door, Kara and Mei Lin sat hunched over their desks passing notes to each other, Ashley a couple of rows behind the two. The lesson was somehow making the clock tick slower. At the end, Ashley was the first one out the door, making a b-line for her locker. She forgot all about her other books which was beyond unusual for her organisation was practically perfect. And her attendance record. Maybe it was the skull splitting headache she had acquired over the course of the morning. Why did it hurt so much? It was like a million bees were playing chase whilst carrying static radio signals. It was unbearable and Ashley wanted to scream. Next class was math, an awful way to go with a headache. Surely she could go to the nurse's office for some painkillers? Or would that be dumb? She'd have a lot of catching up to do if she did that. Maybe at lunch? Yes, it seemed a better idea. Ashley then relaxed a little and sauntered off to the math classroom.

As she walked the headache seemed to start dissipating, the bees were taking a time out or something and suddenly she started hearing a strange whispering; it was faint and far away but also very obviously real. She looked around and saw that there was no one directly close to her. More like there were huge crowds of people in the corridors and they were all shouting about something or the other. This was different. It was in her head, she could swear. What the heck? Was she going insane or something? The closer Ashley got to the math room, the clearer the whispering got; something about…math. Then a snide comment about Carly Robert's awful outfit choices. What? Where did that come from? Ashley walked through the door and the whispering turned to quiet talking, she spied the outfit in question as Carly was sitting at the front and chatting to a friend, then she saw Natalia sitting down on the right. She turned to Ashley and as soon as she did, Ashley heard the thought – _Oh Ashley's here, about time!_ It was Natalia's thoughts. But how?

'Nat, shut up.' Ashley sat down next to her friend cradling her forehead a little with a weak hand. Natalia looked baffled and the quiet talking turned to louder more confused and almost incoherent speech.

'But I didn't say anything.' She replied. Ashley shot her an annoyed glance.

'Fine then stop _thinking_ or whatever, you're splitting my head open.' She complained.

'What?' the speech was between blurred and flying off to outer space.

'I can hear your thoughts, I think it's a-you-know-what thing.' Ashley rubbed her temples in attempt to massage them but nothing was helping the pain that came with it. She was trying to shut it down or control it but this was way harder than flying or using her fire powers. The pain was easing a little bit now that Natalia was trying to shield her thoughts from Ashley; barricading a high wall between herself and her friend's innocent intrusion.

'Well I hope that helped, now get out of my head, Ash!' Natalia was fascinated by the new found power but also a little angry that it had to be her head first.

'A little, I think that it'll be easier if we work together rather than you trying to force me out. Also, do you think I could hear the others?' Ashley frowned for a second and forgot that she hadn't opened her mouth just then. Did she say it out loud or in their heads? Natalia's eyes widened as she realised too what they had achieved.

'Wow, okay you're in my head!' Natalia was confused whether this was cool or just annoying for the moment. Cool, she decided.

'And you're in mine, but you can only hear what I want you to hear. I think I'm starting to understand how this works? I'll try the others.' Ashley nodded to the bushy haired girl next to her and the two left a small thread of consciousness keeping them together. There was silence but each knew the other was there. It was as if they were in a dark room with nothing in it but their voices. There was nothing quite like it. The lesson rolled by quickly as the girls were busy trying to understand how the mind thing worked. Ashley couldn't reach the others yet but she decided it was because they weren't close enough or because she hadn't heard them before to just find their mind. It didn't work on anyone else but guardians luckily, otherwise Ashley's head might have exploded by now.

Meanwhile, Kara was battling her lab partner, the tall and mysterious Will. The two were the eye sore of the class. Both dressed in dark clothes, momentarily hidden by white lab coats, dark hair messily tied back and held by their goggles' elastic, and each sporting a deep frown on their face. Kara was holding a conical flask full of a clear liquid; a perfectly neutralised solution with just enough acid and alkali to make the pH an outstanding 7. They had done this first, but now there was a different task to get on with and the two weren't exactly agreeing. Will wanted to get on with it, but Kara wanted to plan out their results table and sort out the 'paperwork' as she called it. They had enough time to do both, so why not?

'You know, we could just waste our time arguing if you'd like?' Will snapped pointedly. Kara rolled her eyes and put the solution down before she could smash the glass flask.

'Or you could try to do things logically?' she countered. The experiment wouldn't matter if they didn't write it down. Why wouldn't he just see reason?

'Because logic is stupid. It's not difficult anyway. Let's just do it.' Will disappeared to find some of the equipment they would need. Kara glared knives at his back. It's not that she was used to getting her way, it was that she wanted to have control over how things went. She realised that's not how it's going to go this time or any time and physically slouched over the desk. It wasn't even about the dumb experiment any more, it was about not being able to keep things from happening. Her parents were a prime example. Whatever she tried, she had no control in keeping them together.

Will came back in a minute, carrying a couple different liquids and a Bunsen burner underarm. He put down the flasks and then started to put the rubber tube onto the gas tap. Kara watched him, the fight in her gone, leaving her with a helpless feeling which was intensified by the glare Will threw over his shoulder. He did a double take when he saw her face – she had given up and something looked a little broken even from the outside. His face softened and he pretended not to have noticed how she looked like she was about to cry. Something about him ignoring it made Kara feel better however she still waited for the gloating. Instead Will pulled the stool from under the table and sat down with a piece of paper.

'So…how does this table even work, huh?' he shrugged at paper in front of him. Kara felt a pang of affection for the boy; he had seen her defeated and didn't make a big deal of it. It was a nice thing to do, but Kara didn't want to dwell on it. She still didn't like Will, but maybe she hated him a little less now.

'We need to make a list…' and so the two worked together on the assignment, the temporary ceasefire starting to look like a permanent thing. Kara even found herself laughing along with Will at his failed attempt to draw a straight line. The line was crooked just like Will's smile and Kara shook her head in disbelief. Just half an hour ago they were ready to murder each other or something.

'What?' Will asked meekly.

'Nothing.' Kara smiled. It was nice – getting along was working.

'Okay.'

The end came soon and Kara was packing her things when she noticed footprints on the sleek floor. They were faint and quite dusty but there was something odd about them; they were only around the back of the table and maybe a little beyond that. Red alarm bells were going off in Kara's head – she recognised the prints with heavy hearted dread. Speaking of which the Heart was now resting on her skin, keeping itself somewhat concealed by not glowing like usual. She fingered the pendant's metal point in thought, then let it drop on her t-shirt.

Will was momentarily back at their desk, packing his own things away, his face no longer as frowning as before. Kara stared at him. It couldn't be- No. It was just her imagination. There was no way. No way. She shrugged it off and finished packing, turning to leave and running into Will who was going to go her way. The two were startled – would they ever stop running into each other? Will's eyes did not fall to Kara's throat where the chain hung and the Heart was on full display. She hoped against hope he wouldn't look at it.

'Nice necklace.' Will stepped back and walked away. Kara's eyes snapped down to his feet. Oh no. The boots, it _was_ him. The air puffed out of Kara's lungs as the realisation dawned on her. Or was it her imagination playing tricks on her? If Will was there yesterday, was it him in the old rail station too? Wait till she tells the others…


	10. Chapter 10

Kara was racing to find the girls, the newfound information swirling around her head dangerously and bursting any shred of calmness the girl had acquired over well…ever. This was even more shocking than the whole guardian thing; how? Kara wasn't sure but she ran for it. The others were just getting out of lessons and unfortunately the process of finding four girls was a little bit harder since there were seas of people to get through.

On the other hand of this extensive freak out, Ashley was starting to double over in pain; she was trying really hard to block the remaining three guardians whom still didn't know that she could hear their thoughts. In Kara's case this was even worse than Natalia's incoherent jabbering. Ashley leaned on the side of her locker, casually enough to passers by but Natalia found her and tried to get her to move away from the all the noise. The two ducked outside into the school's courtyard. There were hardly any people there and since it was lunch it was relatively quiet.

'What's going on?' Natalia asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

'It's Kara, I think something's wrong.' Ashley explained. She attempted to close her eyes and focus on blocking the noise out but it was too hard since Kara's uncontrollable thoughts were turning into desperate screams. Ashley could hear Cleo's constant train of thought too, though it was much calmer and quieter. Which left Mei Lin. She had the quietest and nicest head to be in. It was as if you were taking a walk in faraway dreamland where things could get bad but you wouldn't worry about it. This was a relief to Ashley.

'Wait- there she is!' Natalia looked past her red haired friend and found Kara practically running to them. The storm in Ashley's head was rearing and roaring, shattering all calmness and bringing in a dark cloud of Kara's personal rain.

'Guys! Where are Cleo and Mei Lin? We need to talk.' Kara puffed a little as she neared them. Ashley turned to her and blinked hard to try to focus on her friend without tearing up from the pain and over emotive storm inside her.

'Can you please stop thinking so much?' Ashley pleaded. Kara's thoughts floated away suddenly, leaving only a faint whisper of Cleo's and only the presence of Mei Lin.

'What?'

'I can hear all of us and it's really hurting my brain, just calm your thoughts or block them from me or help me block them.' Ashley looked around trying to locate Cleo or Mei Lin.

'Sorry.' Kara shrunk away even more and then disappeared from Ashley's mind completely. That was odd, why couldn't she feel her presence anymore? She still had a connection with Natalia but Kara was lost.

'I can't hear you at all now. But I can still hear you or feel or whatever.' Ashley turned from Kara to Natalia, the two watching her closely in return.

'I don't know, but whatever, we need Cleo and Mei. This is huge.' Kara paused a second to looked around, at her watch and then she started for the inside of the school. Her legs carried her quickly towards the corridor leading to the canteen. She had a plan. Ashley and Natalia stared after her.

'Well I suppose we should find them then.' Ashley nodded in agreement.

Kara made it to her locker in record time, she had waited outside the canteen but he wasn't there. Strange. But she did catch him coming towards her. The Heart lay on her skin, warm and comforting and not to mention strengthening. Will was within view but he hadn't seen her yet. She busied herself with some book and waited. The boy's arms swayed as he walked, care free and calm to his locker and the girl who he hated but doesn't seem to quite hate now was waiting there. She was something weird he had decided, but not bad. She could never be bad, there just wasn't a way for it to happen in this universe or any other.

'Hey, Kara.' He said. His hands were on the lock, putting in the combination but his mind was totally trained on her; this strange creature and what she would do.

'Hi, so I was wondering, we need to work on that assignment-'

'Oh yeah, the follow up?' he glanced at her. Kara's hair was a little dishevelled from all the running around and it made Will's eyes hesitate before moving back to his locker.

'Yeah, exactly. How about after school, there's a really neat café on Harbour Street, and it's pretty good for studying?' Kara's fingers were crossed behind her back. This better work. The boy opened his locker, a hand holding on to the metal tightly as he mulled it over. An opportunity, and she was the one who suggested it. Brilliant. This was easier than he thought.

'Sure, we can go after last period. I'll see you then.' Will barely smiled as he left her without for a response. No loopholes to back out. Kara smirked as she watched him go…he had it coming.

Back in the courtyard, Ashley had managed to locate Mei Lin and had called her to them. It was easy since she was so calm, and understood what was happening immediately when Ashley had said something. Cleo was a little harder to find but since she was walking through one of the corridors passing the courtyard, Natalia spotted her and ran to her. Cleo seemed startled at first but glad that Natalia had come. The two went back to Ashley and Mei, who stood in the same spot, waiting for the gang to get back together.

'Hey, look, this is so cool.' Ashley projected herself into Cleo's mind and the fair headed girl all but jumped out of her skin.

'W-what was that?' she gapped.

'Telepathy!' Ashley exclaimed. 'I think that's what it's called right?'

'Something like that but a much more guardian version.' Natalia laughed. At that moment Kara could be spotted bounding towards them. She seemed somewhat calmer but still wildly disturbed.

'Okay, so…' she huffed. 'Basically it was Will yesterday. Don't know about the other night, but definitely him yesterday.' She wasn't done speaking when the girls started talking over each other in nervous sputters.

'But how did you know?' Ashley asked.

'Who cares, someone saw and that's a problem.' Natalia countered.

'What are we going to do?' Cleo chimed in.

'Guys! Stop it, I have a plan. It's already in motion. So listen…' Kara completed the small circle and started telling the girls the plan. It was going to work. Or so she hoped…


	11. Chapter 11

The clock was ticking ridiculously slowly and it had done so for the past couple of hours or so it seemed to the guardians. It wasn't even a full four days since they have found out they were these strange protectors of a completely new universe and now they had to deal with Earth problems before trying to even help Meridian. It was a little messed up to them, however it was perhaps a good exercise in power and control. The girls had discussed the plan over lunch and agreed on details since it was more of a group effort – sure Kara was the leader but that didn't mean she was a dictator of any kind. Besides, five heads were better than one.

A dulled down sound of the bell rang through the school and its students were released for the day. The tension was falling into the guardians' minds, it was their first mission since the portal opening and they couldn't mess it up. They had practised the mind tricks at lunch too – now all of them could pretty much tune into each other's thoughts with only an occasional mistake. It was once again a group effort to make this work. They must work as a team from now on.

Cleo and Mei Lin were going to be the first ones to leave; they would walk the short way to the café…which just so happened to be about two minutes away from their spot under the bridge. But Will didn't know that. That was part of the plan. Kara would take care of it. Meanwhile, Ashley and Natalia would bike the long way and wait on the other side of the area – it was a huge place with the sizable canal running through it and the huge bridge above it all. The architects of Heatherfield had done a really great deed without realising it since they made it a safe zone with all the coverage.

Kara's grand idea was to corner Will and question him. Of course this couldn't be done subtly so they had to either threaten him or plead with him if he really had seen something before. Kara believed she had some advantage over Will since she had seen he had a soft side though that didn't mean that she could trust him. It was a dangerous gamble on how much of a good human Will was but it was a risk to take especially because he had probably seen too much anyways.

It was not apparent that anyone else knew, or if the evidence wasn't reliable then all of this would have been based on a false accusation. As Kara walked to meet with Will, it was suddenly not such a great plan after all. What if they were completely wrong? What if it was a coincidence? Was she doing the right thing? It was too late now, they had to do something about it.

The boy stood half buried in his locker, clearly searching for something. It was just past the chaos of the end of the day but Kara felt like the chaos was only just beginning. The doubt had been forgotten and only a trace of anger remained. Why she was angry, she didn't really care.

'Hey, ready?' she perched on the window sill across the narrow corridor. Will turned around and shut the metal door behind him. A small smile flitted across his features as he took a moment to look at her.

'Sure.' He and Kara walked somewhat slowly and in silence until they got out into the noise filled main street. Neither dared to say anything. Both were expecting the other to do so. A very interesting situation indeed.

'So where did you live before?' Kara went for the obvious questions since Will was still what people called 'new'.

'I lived a couple hours away, y'know Hollowsprings? It's slightly smaller but basically like Heatherfield. I was born here but we moved away for a little while. And now we're back.' He shrugged it off, he knew it was a polite question but also knowing who she was made it easier to answer. Did she know who he was?

'Right, yeah, my mom lives there now.' She had never seen the place itself but heard the name, sometimes screamed or otherwise.

'Oh, okay, she and your dad, um?'

'Didn't work.' Kara said curtly. She avoided talking about it, she avoided talking about her and this whole _thing_ was about _him_.

'Sorry but I guess sometimes things happen and it's for the better.' Will looked ahead as he said it, and something about the light reflecting in his eyes made Kara hesitate – his tone wasn't promising either. It made her wonder what had happened for him to understand.

'Yeah. Better.'

After that the conversation seemed to have been hit by a train and died. The other guardians were already in position and waiting but since the two were walking slowly it made it a pain to wait. Something like a jack-in-a-box waiting to spring out and surprise the kids. The lid was not opening soon. Harbour Street came into the view and the café was there as promised however Kara didn't point it out to Will, instead she led him the other way. The way towards the trap.

The huge plain of greenery, dust, sand and garbage piles under the bridge came into view soon. Will hadn't said anything if he had cared that they were under the bridge. He had walked with Kara like it was no big deal they were clearly headed for the suspicious space which made the leader of the guardians incredibly wary and almost guilty. It was the obedient and oblivious walk of an animal to a slaughter house. The guilt she could live with but she had created some set of space between her and Will.

Three steps or so.

'Okay, so what do you think? Hmm?' Kara turned around and gestured to the high walls arching above them. Will's eyes flitted up and observed for a split second, then, this gaze dropped down to Kara.

'It's alright, y'know for a dark alley. But I gotta say, you made this too easy, Kara.' Will made for a step toward her however she held out the Heart and light flooded into their eyes. His step went backwards instead, scared but curious. The moment was held, neither moving or saying anything. The guardians all in their hiding spots held their breath.

Suddenly more light shone in the alley-like underbelly of the bridge. It was strange and blue. It came from behind Will, who sensed it and turned. His eyes widened as he saw what formed in front of him; a large blue circle, dark in the middle and light on the outskirts. He didn't have time to think. A huge shadow was formed on the other side of the portal and was coming towards him. This was not part of the plan. The guardians took it as their queue to jump out of their hiding spots. Kara was already shaken from the shock and yelled out.

'Guardians unite!' but it was too late. The thing's hand, a strange brown and grey leather like hand, came through the blue light and grabbed Will before he or the girls could do anything. He struggled and kicked at the hand but nothing was working. Mei Lin and Cleo were the closest after they transformed and so dived into the portal after Will. They were followed by Kara, Ashley and Natalia. Through the portal, the girls found themselves in a drying meadow; previously liquid mud now hardened into making new patches of ground in between sprouts of grass. The trees on the edges leading into the forest hung lamely, their branches barely lifted as if some invisible force were making them heavy. It was some time in the middle of the afternoon and perhaps there would have been a sun shining in the sky if it wasn't about to rain. The group realised it must be Meridian they had just flown into but the location didn't matter so much right now.

The thing that had Will was immediately on the left of the portal, heaving and alone. Will was nowhere to be seen. The thing itself looked like it could have eaten him but that would have been bullshit. Literally. The creature resembled a minotaur; the half man and half bull creature found in ancient Greek mythology but this one was slightly different. Apart from having a bull's head, human torso and bull's hind legs, it had slightly leathery skin complemented by thick hair or fur, as well as a tail. Something like a cat's tail, long and swift. It was no longer sitting – for a second it had been knocked down by something else, but now it was up and looking for the threat. Its ear twitched and the creature headed straight for the girls.

They flew up and out of reach. Ashley swooped down and circled the creature with fire. It was trapped inside the non-burning middle of the circle and it looked up. Without a moment's hesitation, the thing walked right out of the fire and looked around again, this time ignoring the guardians. The fire put itself out with Ashley flick of a wrist. The fact that there was such a creature not only astonished the girls but made them wary. Next Natalia landed, putting her hands to the earth, feeling the ground shift and soon saw the work of her magic – thick vines were growing around the creature's legs, holding him in place. He grunted and reached behind his back. His horns were covering what he was doing yet soon enough the girls saw as he hefted an axe in his large hands. He chopped at the vines and freed himself. The bull man charged at Natalia. Her eyes widened and she froze. This thing was _running_ at her.

'Nat!' someone yelled. Before the creature reached her the axe was blasted out of his hands by some green flash. It came from above the guardians. Another green flash struck the creature and it scrambled away, starting to run limply into the forest. The thing this time was flying above them; it had large black wings and some sort of bronze mask. Otherwise it looked like a person. The hair, the body, the clothes. Very human but it clearly wasn't from Earth. It was a flash of strange green and black as it passed the guardians and went straight for the minotaur-esque creature. It hadn't gotten very far and the flying man swooped down on it. The green flash was seen from where the guardians were, back on the ground next to Natalia. A roar was heard but it was weak and soon it faded. The creature had run away.

It was all too much to believe for the moment. The guardians stood confused in the middle of the meadow. What had just happened? What was the creature? Who was the winged man? Where was Will? Could the winged man done something to him? Or was it the minotaur?

'Why did we let it go?' Mei Lin asked. They were staring at where winged man had disappeared, he wasn't in view but they could hear the beat of his wings.

'Don't think it wanted to talk.' Natalia shook her head in disbelief. She had been so close to death.

'I don't know. Whatever just happened makes no sense. Why did it come to Earth and just pluck Will up?' Kara turned to her friends and surveyed them. No one was hurt thankfully even though Natalia was still a little shocked.

'I didn't think those existed. Like the ancient monsters from myths. Meridian must be really messed up or something.' Cleo bent down to inspect the dent in the ground the minotaur had left. Its hoof was bigger than her fist.

'What now?' Ashley's face was determined as she looked at Kara; it struck her how serious Ashley was for once.

'We need to find-' Kara was cut off by the beating of wings and a light thud of someone landing behind her. Everyone tensed as they eyed the winged man from a few metres away. He was tall and well built, with chin length wavy hair but where his face was supposed to be, there was a golden mask with features carved into it. Where his eyes were, there was only a part of the mask but lighter and glowing green. The flashes must have come from there.

'I'm here.' He said. His voice was muffled and slightly amused. No one said anything. 'So you guys really are the new guardians? Wow, can't say I'm impressed.'

'And what are you supposed to be? A glowing pigeon?' Kara shot back. 'What did you do to Will? And what was that thing doing on Earth?'

'Long story but I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet.' He tilted his head smugly and crossed his arms in waiting.

'Figured what out?' Mei Lin frowned. In the meantime, Cleo was trying to pry his mind open. He kept blocking her off though.

'Tell blondie over there to give it up. My mind is a safe.' All eyes turned to Cleo who shrunk a tiny bit.

'Listen buddy, we don't have time for games, tell us or else.' Ashley's fist lit up in an instant. She wasn't patient but she was also right, they had to get to the bottom of this.

'Fine, I'll tell you, but not 'cause I'm scared, but because y'all are so clueless.' The man walked forward and his wings wrapped around himself – within a moment he blurred and morphed into someone very familiar. Will stood in front of the wide eyed guardians.

'See? Bet you feel stupid now.' He grinned crookedly. Kara stepped forward but thought better of it and stopped before she did something silly. Like hug him. Or slap him. Or both.

'Who are you really?' she asked. Will felt the cold undertone of her voice and his grin started to fade.

'You're mad at me, huh? I couldn't just tell you though could I?' Will lowered his voice and stepped back. He turned back into the winged man. 'I'm Shagon.'

'Well that totally explains things!' Kara snapped.

'I'll tell you along the way, come on.' He gestured toward the forest.

'Way to what?' Ashley glanced back at the portal. It was still there, with them in the middle of the meadow.

'The palace of course. Oh yeah, you might want to close that.' Will/Shagon pointed to it. 'Seriously come on, we're going to see some friends.'

The guardians paused, glancing at each other. The message was obvious and didn't need to be relayed over on their minds' radio waves. Kara held up the Heart to the portal. The rest of the girls nodded and followed Will/Shagon.


	12. Chapter 12

The greying clouds above weren't letting up and the darkness was descending onto the guardians and their companion. Will led the way, winding through the forest's paths scattered with bushes and trees; it was no longer the walk of an animal to be slaughtered, it was the purposeful walk of a free man. The guardians on the other hand were filled with doubt and curiosity, both of these demons battling within each girl. A connection of the minds had been formed but times were not fruitful.

' _What if Will's the bad guy?_ '

' _Can we really trust him?_ '

' _But he's leading us to the queen's castle isn't he?_ '

' _He just said palace, he didn't specify. Kara?_ '

The silence of the leader struck the other girls as uncanny. She was barely conscious in their circle of thoughts. She thought finally.

' _He's telling the truth_.'

 _'_ _But how do we know?_ ' Cleo asked.

' _He did save my life, he could have easily let t-the thing kill me. I'm with Kara on this one._ ' Natalia glanced at the others as she thought it. Mei Lin nodded. Cleo was still trying to inconspicuously poke at the boy's mind with no luck.

' _Fine. But he's not letting me into his head._ ' the blonde added pointedly.

' _Cleo, it's fine, don't waste your_ -.' Ashley's thought was cut off.

'I know you guys are talking about me, I don't know how but I can feel it. So I suggest you ask me what it is you're wondering. I did say I would explain?' Will was surging ahead but that didn't mean he wasn't aware of what was behind him.

' _How did he do that?_ ' Mei Lin exclaimed. The circle was breaking a little causing the connection to be faint.

'How do you know the Queen?' Ashley began. Will turned slightly, his mask almost glowing in the settling darkness. His eyes resembled fireflies.

'Believe it or not, I'm one of her "knights".' He held up his hands and quoted with his fingers. 'It's not really a gig I chose for myself, but I guess sometimes things happen for the better.' Will sneaked a glance at Kara who lagged on his left flank. She caught his eye for a second but shrugged it off. She was being incredibly quiet and even he had noticed.

'Wait, so you're not from Earth?' Mei Lin jumped over a questionable mound of dirt and carried on.

'Nah, I was born on Earth but my grandparents made sure that I knew about Meridian from a young age. I used to come here all the time. They knew the powers would have to be passed on somehow.' Will half laughed at some distorted memory flitting through his mind. He was sure the girls must have connected some dots by now.

'My grandparents were Will Vandom and Matt Olsen.' He said. The guardians all looked at each other suddenly – their faces reflected everyone else's. It made sense now. Will caught on with their recognition.

'Aha, so you know them. Good. Saves me time explaining.'

'We met Will at Kandrakar not a week ago.' Cleo clarified. Will stopped suddenly, just short of a tree in his path. He turned slowly, the pause making the guardians a little nervous.

'Y-you saw her? How is she?' he asked. The mask though solid gold now seemed incredibly transparent.

'You didn't know she's there?' Kara spoke up. Will took a long look at her. Something of an understanding was clear on her face.

'No. I thought she could only be summoned there, as the rest of the high council.' The boy's voice was quiet and Kara couldn't help but feel his sudden vulnerability.

'She's fine. Really great and you don't need to worry about her.' She nodded.

'Right, great. Come on, we need to keep moving.' But the girl heard the disappointed tone of his voice, she knew that tone so well it hurt to hear it again. It was evening now or close to it and the group were still slumping along the uneven ground.

'" _Really great"?_ ' Mei Lin fell in step with Kara and prodded her friend's mind.

' _Oh, shut up_.' The other girl snapped lightly. Mei Lin tried to contain her smirk as they walked on.

'So Shagon, or whatever your real name is, why is it we're way down here, when we could be using our -I don't know- _wings_?' Cleo marched lazily alongside Will now and the rest of the guardians were just on their heels.

'Because,' He began pointedly. 'Until it is dark, we're a target.'

' _Whose_ target?' Kara stomped ahead.

'Anyone's. Don't you know about the situation here?' he replied gruffly.

'No!' almost all the guardians shouted at him. Will was taken aback for a second.

'Well, since Queen Anna was crowned, she's not been a favourite amongst people. Queen Elyon was around for a long time and the Meridians weren't accustomed to change yet. There's some who support Queen Anna and some who don't. But there's more to it.' he started to explain.

'A neighbouring dimension has been acting up. Queen Elyon had signed a treaty with the people of Gritia. It is a fairly new discovery to here since nobody knew it existed until about twenty years ago. Information about them is limited but Meridians prefer peace thus the treaty was signed. Gritia are now famous for their trade, they need cattle in exchange for metals. And they have lots of metals. So of course they are a valuable trading partner to Meridian.'

'I'm sorry, what's the point in all of this?' Cleo asked. She hadn't quite given up on trying to infiltrate Will's head though this wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to know whether they could trust him.

'Not finished. Okay, so trading was going fine, until the Gritians made a fuss about Meridian's new queen. She doesn't have the same deal as Queen Elyon according to them so they stopped trade and said they want a new deal. They want her to earn their respect. The problem is some Meridians don't think this is a problem so they said no. Queen Anna is yet to do something about it. There has been a sort of divide between Meridians at the moment and that's why we're not flying. Anyone could be waiting to open fire at something suspicious and I think we pass for suspicious.'

'Wow, so some trading deal is why we're the new guardians?' Natalia rolled her eyes. It was a little insulting even though they were yet to prove themselves.

'Not quite. Turns out, there's actually some information about Gritians hidden deep in the archives of the Infinite City. And so far, the Gritians are no good news. None of this is public by the way, there's a bit of a crisis going on because it's all getting a bit political.'

'So politics and trading is why we are the new pixies? Lame.' Ashley shook her head.

'You don't get it do you? These Gritian people may be a threat to Meridian besides the civil war which may be brewing. We don't know much since the Queen's scholars are yet to go through the archives thoroughly. If something is in the Infinite City, then it's hella important.'

'Right, so this may or may not be an actual problem because nobody's read the manual yet?' Mei Lin asked.

'Guys, you need to take this seriously, these are the only problems Meridian has had for nearly a century. It's a big deal.' Will sighed.

'Fine, but what can we do to help? We're some little girls with wings.' Ashley shrugged.

'Hey no, we're not. We can do this, we can help the Queen.' Kara countered.

'I don't know how much you know about your own powers, but guardians aren't summoned unless there's a serious reason. The universe needs you for something.' Will gestured to the forest around as he walked. The trees were getting sparse and lights could be seen further ahead; they were nearly on the edge of the village. From there it would be easy to reach the castle and since it was dark they could fly.

'Hoping you're right there, Will.' Kara mumbled. The group of six flew into the night air; there was no turning back now…


	13. Chapter 13

In the night six figures flew, cloaked by darkness, around the back of the castle, flying in through the gardens and landing quietly at the back entrance of the palace. It was a marvellous, stone building, completely out of a fairy tale and yet, it was surrounded by guards and an aura of panic. Once it had been a harmonious symbol of Meridian's freedom, but now it was more of a reminder how things could change for better or worse. There was hope yet as the small group were accepted inside.

The castle was more realistic on the inside then out; paintings were hung showing many generations of the blood line, plains of Meridian and other beautiful tapestries decorated the central corridor. The curtains, drapes and carpets were lush and sculpted to perfection though unlike everything else, they were quite modest. Even the walls themselves displayed great grandeur from the floor to the ceiling, it was all kept alive and welcoming.

'Wow.' Cleo was first to process where they were as the rest of the guardians remained mute in awe. Sure she had seen many places as her family had travelled around the country, but all of that had been nothing in comparison to this.

'Yeah, the floor looks good enough to eat off.' Mei Lin muttered. This did not look like the photos she had found in her grandmother's possessions – sure some of the décor had changed and some preserved, but there was hardly any warmth left in the room, only fear and coldness surrounded the furniture. Mei Lin nudged Kara as they walked after Will and the others.

 _'_ _The air feels funny in here. I'm not sure I like it.'_ she thought. Kara glanced at her and around them before answering.

 _'_ _I think I know what you mean, but let's just wait and see.'_

 _'_ _I sure think everyone else likes it though…'_ Mei Lin trailed off.

 _'_ _Maybe, but hey, we need to meet the Queen and see what all this is about.'_

 _'_ _Yeah, but keep an eye out for anything.'_ Mei Lin insisted.

 _'_ _Fine and you too.'_ Kara replied. The two broke it off as they entered another room, this one just as grand but also clearly the throne room and hall.

'Guardians! Welcome!' a voice echoed through the cathedral like space. A middle aged woman dressed in a long, light blue robe stood up from one of the thrones at the tip of the room. She was an older version of the photos of Queen Elyon the girls had seen before. Even the robe and the crown. Queen Anna smiled as she approached the group. Will bowed in respect, and soon the girls did so too in panic in case they appeared rude. It wasn't exactly every day you met royalty. Especially of a world like this.

'Thank you for bringing them Shagon, any problems along the way?' the Queen gestured for them to stand upright. The winged man looked down.

'Yes, my Queen, an encounter with a Mitour though we took care of that.' He said. Queen Anna nodded in understanding and gave him a reassuring smile.

'That's okay, as long as you're all safe. Girls, let me look at you!' she was bright and projected kindness it was almost unreal to people who had spent their lives on Earth, where almost everyone was one shade of miserable than the others. The girls all gave the Queen a smile. The circumstance was odd but at last they had come to Meridian and met its queen.

'It's an honour to meet you, your majesty.' said Natalia. The girls all nodded in agreement.

'Thank you, I am glad you could come.' Queen Anna was yet to find out something about the girls that even the girls didn't know as of now. Once they had introduced themselves, rather shyly and timidly, the Queen hesitated.

'Your names sound very familiar but I cannot quite place it.' she asked.

'Perhaps not, your majesty.' Shagon butted in gently.

'I suppose. Now, I must inform you about our current state of crisis.' The words rang out like a pin dropping on the marble floor of the throne room. As if the word crisis was a cue, the doors of the throne room burst open and a young man ran in. His posture was that of a tired dog; he had clearly run a long way. His clothes were dishevelled and his dark hair unruly and wind swept. The general impression of him was that of a "hero" what with a long sword strapped to his back.

'Your majesty, there is a riot at town…' he stopped as he registered the presence of the strange creatures in the room. '…square.' He finished lamely. 'Forgive me for the interruption; what of the guards your majesty?' the Queen was processing the untimely information and a brilliant and simple solution formed in her mind. Of course this would happen now, she thought.

'Tell the guards there are no orders. Where is your father, Jax?' she inquired. The young man stood puzzled for a moment.

'He is there, trying to keep things under control.'

'Good, tell him and his men to stand down. We have someone else to take care of this situation.' The Queen turned to the guardians. 'Girls, I need you to go to town square and see the people; they must know you are here. Meridian needs help, and you are our hope. Please, go now.' Queen Anna's eyes were lit up for the first time in weeks; there was nothing as strong as the possibility of hope.

'Yes, your majesty, but what do we do?' Kara asked. She was supposed to represent the guardians' one mind. Their telepathic bond was once again strong and the girls were all in a nervous state but hid it from the Queen.

'Just be there, once they see you, they will know. The stories passed on from generation to generation about the saviours of Meridian still ring true in their hearts. Go with Jax, he will show you where it is.' The young man in question was watching Shagon, secretly wanting to greet his best friend properly but could not as time was short.

'Shagon, you too of course.' The Queen added. Under his golden mask, Will's true face lit up with a smile – he liked his job and this was an opportunity to show the guardians they could trust him. And as a bonus his best friend was there too, maybe the day was yet to work out.

A second later the group were out of the doors and rushing through the palace and out into the village. Jax instead of running this time, mounted onto a nearby horse he has asked for on coming in. With the stranger on the ground and the girls in the air, Shagon just in between the two, the mental conversation was firing rapidly.

 _'_ _Who is that guy?'_

 _'_ _There's a freaking riot, what are_ we _meant to do?'_

 _'_ _We can handle this, think about what our ancestors have done for the name of the guardians.'_ Mei Lin interjected between Cleo and Ashley's exclamations.

 _'_ _Some magical little pixies won't stop anarchy.'_ Natalia called out without moving her mouth.

Soon they were over the village. It was rather like a medieval town, but not as awfully dirty and disgusting as most would have been during the plagues in Europe in the past. No, this was a different world and to call it earthly would be an insult. Meridian was old fashioned and beautiful, and from the air it was obvious that the people cared about their property and heritage. In the darkness only fires could help the guardians make out what the village looked like. Jax had slowed down to a counter and was guiding the party to the town square. Shouts and a general scuffle of noises could be heard from about a hundred feet away.

In the literal square in the centre of the town, there were numerous guards holding sticks with fires, keeping hoards of Meridians in small, contained clumps. There was no violence yet, nobody had dared do anything so forward but arguments were heard from all sides and people. The sound of Jax's horse's hooves silenced the entire square. Nobody had looked up. He weaved around until he reached an older man who could only be his father. Their conversation was a series of whispers and every man, woman and child stood there waiting for what the Queen had wished.

'Guards! Stand down!' Jax's father shouted it, and as he did, the order was echoed through the generals and the rest of the people to know.

Jax looked to the sky and waited for his friend to come down with the guardians. Shagon swooped down first and landed on the ledge of a water fountain on one side of the square. A series of gasps followed as the guardians descended too. They landed in the space created by people inching away from Shagon, forming a semi-circle. Mutterings were coming from all over the crowd, hushed whispers of intrigue and also outrage. Kara stood straighter and addressed the crowd as best as she could. This was nothing like any of them had ever faced.

'The Queen has sent us here.' She said. Her voice carried over the people, some still angry, some curious to hear more. 'We are here to tell you…that…there is hope for peace-'

'Down with the Queen!' a man yelled from the crowd. It set of numerous voices to shout the same thing and the echo was loud from all different voices saying the same thing. 'She doesn't want us to fight, but she wants to lie to us!' the same man shouted. He had stood up on a cart or something and was now on a makeshift podium to speak. The Queen's messengers were looking at each other as children who have been bad and caught would. For a minute or so too many voices talked at once and nobody knew what was happening. The guards had migrated a little and now were hardly keeping the people together but instead were clumped into a crowd next to Jax and his father.

Kara had had enough. She had no powers that she was aware of right now, but somehow she what to do. She raised a hand and willed for something to happen. Mei Lin noticed what she was doing first.

'What are you-' she started. Lightning struck from the dark night above and thunder could be heard rolling in the distance. The strike hit two feet in front Kara. Little sparks of electricity were barely visible around Kara's figure but the energy she felt was definitely there. The square was once again silent.

'Listen.' Kara began. 'The Queen is not lying about anything. She is just as unsure as you about what's going on. It's better if you keep peace here and help her figure it all out.'

'She's right.' A new voice sounded in the crowd. It was that of Jax's father. He was the captain of the Queen's regiment. 'We are here to protect the people of Meridian but only if you will let us. So please, go to your homes and carry on as you would. The Queen will see to it that you know everything as she does.'

People started considering what to do; some started trickling away from the edges and heading home, others stayed a little longer to talk with one another. Guards and villagers alike went away from the town square, leaving some of the generals and the group of guardians. Jax had come off his horse and greeted Shagon.

'It's been a long time, Will.' He said with a smile. The two boys hugged whilst the others stood awkwardly to the side. Ashley cleared her throat. Natalia nudged her to shut up. At the exchange, Cleo rolled her eyes.

'Jax, these are the new guardians.' Will motioned to the girls. 'Here's Natalia, Ashley, Mei Lin, Cleo and Kara.' He went on. Jax nodded his head.

'Pleasure to meet you, ladies. I'm Jax.' He smiled again. Up close, he seemed a lot younger; almost too young.

'Jax and I grew up together pretty much, well, whenever I was in Meridian.' Will continued.

'Which was most of the time.' Jax laughed. 'I think we should head back to the Queen. I know I had interrupted something important.' He jumped onto his horse.

The girls couldn't process what had really happened. And there was more to come…


	14. Chapter 14

*Sorry about the long wait, I've been busy as hell but I have some time now so more to come :)

Back at the castle, Queen Anna was pacing back and forth in the throne room, waiting for the small party to come back and hoping that they would bring good news. The day was long and now the night time trickled by slowly…

The large doors swung open once again, revealing seven figures. Anna turned and heaved a sigh of relief; they were safe and so were the people of Meridian.

'Everything is okay, your Majesty. Meridians just wanted to know more about the Gritian problem.' And that was sugar coating it.

'I do not recall claiming it was a problem, Shagon. More of a slight miscalculation on my mother's behalf.' Queen Anna replied. She never spoke ill of anybody, especially her own mother but the words just slipped out of her mouth. Nobody paid attention to how it could have been offensive, instead they listened for more.

'I suppose I should have shared more with the people however, I still need to think about what to do.'

'Your Majesty, I do not think the guardians have been informed on the subject, may we start with that?' Jax spoke up. He glanced at the girls and Shagon.

'Of course Jax, let's go to the library. There are some records there that can help explain.' Queen Anna led the group further into the castle and up a set of stairs. Deep shadows formed on either side of the stairwell even though fires were lit all around the corridor above their heads. The guardians followed closely, each head bobbing and turning as they took in their surroundings. There had been no pictures of this side of the castle in Hay Lin's archives.

'Gritia was lost to Meridian many centuries ago.' Queen Anna began as they entered the library. 'Only eighty years ago was the dimension rediscovered for us. My mother befriended the people there and we've had a bond ever since.'

Everyone stood around a heavy, rectangular table, listening to the Queen who stood at the head telling the story. The library resembled a library on Earth but most of the books covering the shelves were old and very thick, some probably written even before Gritia was lost.

'There are doubts of honour, respect and trust which is why the Gritians are threatening to go to war with us.' Anna said it with shame, even though nothing was at all her fault.

'Old followers of Phobos live on the outskirts of the kingdom, punished for treason – they are the ones who have been sending monsters into our realm and why the Mitour found us. Well, the Mitour knew me and had finally found out where to find me.' Shagon explained. The girls turned to Shagon; the boy looked out of place with his large black wings and golden mask. 'My point is that Gritians have not engaged in violence yet.' He shrunk a little under the collective group stare.

'It's true, but it may not be for much longer. I don't know how it is I'm supposed to promise peace when we have not done anything.' The Queen sighed.

Ashley and Natalia were standing in front of large map of Meridian; Mei Lin, Cleo and Kara next to them whilst the two boys stood on either side of the Queen. Jax was standing incredibly still, only his eyes darting around the table, observing the strange new creatures. _We don't have girls like them in Meridian_ , he thought.

Shagon on the other hand was paying close attention to any new development of the story about Gritia.

'These books have been bought back from the Infinite City,' Anna gestured to the four hefty volumes of what seemed mostly dust rather than paper; the dust started to fly upwards and assembled into a cloud above them. Inside the cloud a faint image started to form. As the Queen spoke it changed to scenes of the history.

'So far we've found out that Gritia was lost to Meridian because of a war – unbalance in the universe meant that portals were opening randomly even though both sides tried to seal them off and many were attacked because of it. Both dimensions had tyrannical rulers at the time, so neither side would have submitted. The more the war went on, the harder it was for portals to open until there just wasn't a way to get into either realm. Some Meridians were trapped in Gritia and some Gritians remained here. They became prisoners of war for a long time until they were released to live a life here. Descendants of Gritians are still among us – perhaps though they are not aware of it.' Anna concluded. The dust had become an image resembling the map of Meridian on the table but swiftly fell back down on to the paper. The plume of dust caused the Queen to have a coughing fit and Mei Lin used her powers to gather the dust in one place whilst Ashley walked to the pile and started to burn the dust.

'Thanks girls.' Anna smiled but tears hung in her eyes from her coughing strain.

'Your Majesty, I can't help but wonder why we have become guardians now?' Cleo spoke up. The group's attention was turned to the blond.

'Yes, I suppose that's a good question, I'm glad you asked. The way this works is that when the universe is need of someone stronger than an army, it calls for the guardians. Your powers are greater than you think and you act as peace keepers.'

'The previous guardians bought down Phobos and restored Elyon as the Light of Meridian. They defeated the powers of two worlds combined, all to save Meridian and Earth – don't you get it? You're meant to protect Meridian.' Will interjected suddenly. He had transformed back into himself whilst the dust was being taken care of. He looked around the table with a look of determination.

'Exactly, but only time will tell.' Queen Anna sighed.

 _'_ _So what now?'_

 _'_ _Do we go back to Earth?'_

 _'_ _Maybe there's more, but how cool is this? We're superheroes or superfairies or something!'_ Ashley exclaimed.

 _'_ _Calm down, guys. We need to go back to Earth.'_ Kara frowned.

'I must insist that you stay for dinner and meet my daughter. And Jax you should find your father and bring him.' Anna smiled and gestured for them to go back down in the castle.

 _'_ _The Queen has a daughter?'_

 _'_ _She never mentioned her before.'_

 _'_ _We haven't got time to stay here longer.'_

 _'_ _But doesn't time work differently here?'_

'It's only about a quarter to six on Earth, chill out ladies.' Will smirked even though he had not heard the conversation. He walked on ahead with Jax, the two boys talking quietly. The rest followed, a general agreement to stay passed.


	15. Chapter 15

So funny story... I lost my login for a while and my dumbass couldn't find any of it for ages. We're back on track though! Thanks for the patience and sorry for the wait. Times are slow tbh so this story won't have an upload schedule.

The dining room of the castle was the size of half of the throne room - it wasn't incredibly enormous but it was still very lovely. One ancient long table with ten places had been set; each place having porcelain plates with beautiful flower patterns along the rims and two sets of forks and knives. It wasn't the most amazing royal banquet but only because the Meridian royals didn't like to flaunt off their luxury and instead shared a lot of it with the people of Meridian. It had been like that for most times with exception to the Dark Ages when Phobos and others of his kind had been in power.

The girls were a little sceptical for staying longer; obviously Earth's time was different but not by a long shot. Their original excuses were going to perish with the tick of the clock. But meeting the princess of the land they were supposed to be protecting was a sort of big deal. The party sat down and started with quiet chatter, the sound augmented by the high ceiling of the room.

Somewhere above them, Tia was busy scribbling the last part of her homework assignment, the same one that some of the guardians had been given. She was ready for dinner – wearing her mint green dress which almost shimmered in the white fires dotted around her room. Her fair hair was loose and since short, hung in neat waves. She put her pen down and stared at the textbook and paper in front of her; it was all so out of place here and so unlike what she had expected to find on Earth and yet she loved the ways of which the dimensions were different. Meridian still had the sense of purity about a place where people loved each other and their land and treated it well, but Earth was all about moving forward and moving fast and whilst it was all fascinating, Tia knew that she could never leave her home. Perhaps there was a way to keep living both lives…

Tia had forgotten about the time and once she realised she was late, she flew out of the room and hurried down the stairs, becoming a pale green blur. She had heard voices downstairs and wondered if Jax and Shagon had come for dinner. She nodded to the guards standing outside as she flowed through the door. Nobody noticed her for a moment, however Ashley was first to realise.

'Tia?!' she stood up suddenly in awe of the girl across the room. Six faces in the room changed to show complete confusion. Tia and the five guardians stared at each other wide eyed. The Queen was smiling but as she sensed the tension rise her smile faltered. She looked from the guardians to Tia and back, in alarm. Shock coated their features.

'You are the new guardians?' Tia entered the room properly and walked slowly towards the table. Her dress dragged slightly behind her and she clasped her hands from shaking. The girls stood up, caught like deer in head lights. Ashley was having a hard time concentrating on her own thoughts as the other 4 different streams of consciousness collided at her metaphorical radio station.

'Uhh….yeah.' Kara laughed nervously. The guardians were approaching Tia, worried if they got too close, she would vanish.

'Kind of surprise to see you here.' Ashley said. Cleo grinned and Natalia shrugged.

'Hey! Always knew there was something super cool about you!' Mei Lin chirped happily. She understood the most of what was going on; her grandmother had told her stories about how Elyon had been a princess in disguise back in the day. It made sense now – how Tia acted on Earth, always making excuses not to stay or go anywhere with the girls. She led a double life. And she was royalty.

'Wow, I had no idea! When were you summoned?' Tia returned the cheerful tone. She was getting past the initial surprise.

'Not so long ago.' Natalia stood in thought, perhaps counting the hours and minutes.

'Like a few days ago. It's not even a week, but look at you; you're a princess!' Ashley giggled.

'Yeah, on Earth it doesn't feel like that to be honest. Let's sit.' Tia gestured back to the table. Her mother was nodding slowly as if the whole meeting finally made sense to her.

'So that's why your names sounded familiar.' She said to herself.

'Hey Will, hey Jax.' Tia smiled at the boys from across the table. They were sat next to each other with Cleo, Kara and Mei Lin next to them. Natalia, Ashley and now Tia sat on the other side with two empty seats next to them and the Queen at the head of the table.

The dinner was all served and the guests all in place. Jax's father came in after a little while to be greeted with a hot plate of roast in front of him. The guardians were happily making conversation with the princess, asking her this and that and talking about Meridian and Earth, it was as if they had never really spoken to each other before. It was a whole new world, and a whole new light in a life the girls had never known; to feel familiarity in a foreign place. The conversation floated through the room, the sound almost echoing due to the tall ceiling, and the food's smell wafted dreamily through the air inspiring a great appetite in all present.

'So what was the thing in the village today?' Tia asked after a while. She had heard very little about the actual event as she had been upstairs the entire time.

'Some of the villagers were a little upset about the information they had been given, or more so not…given.' Jax summarised the day's challenge. He did not however recall Kara's actions. The calling of the lightning was odd and better not think about it now.

'The villagers have right to be confused and angry but it does not help with the current situation. The crisis is yet to begin.' The Queen mused. She gazed straight ahead, into the distance as if she was watching something other than the wall.

'What can we do about it?' Kara asked. It had been the general question forming in the telepathic radio the girls shared.

'We must convince the people that violence and anger is not the answer. Then I may be able to deal with the Gritians and strike up some new trading deal, though I am not certain how much they will listen or how I'll reach the Gritians.' The Queen continued. Will remained silent, mulling over the previous night and what he had seen at the old train station. He was certain that the girls had seen it too, and perhaps they had noticed him there. The painting on the wall was etched into this mind and he had a bad feeling about it. He had to look at the archives closely and hope he did not find the painting anywhere. If he did… he did not know what it could even mean. Kara noticed Will's pensive expression and because the two thought alike, her mind turned to the old train station. Will's eyes snapped up and met Kara's. The tension between them diminished as the conversation around the table continued.

'We can come and help sort through the archives and find out more about the Gritians?' Natalia offered. Cleo, Ashley and Mei Lin nodded in agreement. Kara was still holding Will's eyes. He sighed and turned his gaze to the Queen. Kara had a feeling that they were thinking about the strange symbol; she'd bet Mike's motorcycle that Will knew something.

'That would be great girls, I will inform my scholars for the incoming help. I am sure they will be most appreciative.' Anna smiled and sipped from her drink.

'Mother, I could help also?' Tia felt a surge of hope that maybe she could start taking her responsibilities as princess more seriously as well as making friends with the guardians now that they knew who she was truly.

'Yes, I think we need all the help we can get.' It was decided and the room fell into a kind of quieter speech as everyone finished their meals. The guardians were conscious of the time and their excuses falling through as sand falls in an hourglass.

'It had been a pleasure girls, please come back tomorrow, Tia will make sure you get here as easily as possible.' The Queen stood with her guests.

'Thank you for your hospitality, your majesty. We won't let you down.' Cleo spoke for the guardians. They girls smiled and nodded, a pleasantry well observed by the royals.

'Very well, goodnight all.' And with that the Queen left the room first. The rest followed. Cleo and Jax fell into step with one another. Jax had burning questions about Earth that had not been answered yet and couldn't wait to start. Maybe with one at first. He glanced at Cleo, peering past her blond braid and asked.

'What is Earth like?' Cleo seemed surprised.

'Does Will never talk about it?' she asked in return. Jax shook his head. 'Well, it's really different, it's louder in most places and peace is mostly a concept, not a real thing.' She explained thinking of all the wars fought around the world, unrest that she couldn't imagine here. Jax stared at her in fascination; how could this calm beautiful creature belong in such a chaotic universe?

'Maybe you could visit it sometime?' Cleo asked. Jax sighed.

'I cannot. It's one of my father's orders – I must be here in Meridian always.' He said it in a sad tone, wistful but sure of himself.

'Orders? What kid follows orders from their parents?' she concentrated on Jax face; his eyes were really green with tiny golden brown flecks, but full of sadness.

'I've been learning to be a commander my entire life. It's in my blood; for generations my family has produced warriors, and I'm just another one of them. And I promised my grandfather.' He smiled sadly, thinking about his grandfather. He was old, and lived on the outskirts of town.

'Your grandfather was a commander too?'

'Yes, he was one of Queen Elyon's best. His name is Caleb.' The name rang a bell in Cleo's mind and she remembered looking at the photos back at the Silver Dragon. Of course that's why Jax had looked so familiar.

'Mei Lin's grandma kept a lot of pictures. I saw him; he was a warrior. You look a lot like him.'

'Thank you.' Jax smiled, warmed by Cleo's comment but also frightened at how fast his heart was beating. The group had stopped at the edge of the castle's courtyard. Tia was leading the group with Kara and Will beside her. Only the heart of Kandrakar broke through the utter darkness of the night around them, the fires above and behind them barely matching the jewel's glow.

'So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?' Tia asked. They girls laughed happily.

'Whether you like it or not, your highnee.' Ashley grinned. Kara held out the heart and a shimmering blue circle formed in front of her. The portal shone brightly, illuminating their smiling faces. The girls said goodbye and Shagon followed them into the portal. Through the light, they were back under the bridge, Meridian's night replaced by the darkness of Heatherfield.

'What a day, huh?' Mei Lin spun around as the portal closed. She almost floated as she moved, her new acquired powers growing stronger and stronger by the minute. She'd have to be careful sneezing as it might cause a mini hurricane.

'We should really get home, you guys.' Natalia chimed in. The others agreed hurriedly. The group split up; Natalia and Ashley finding their bikes and pedalling away, Cleo and Mei Lin walking up to the bus stop a few roads away, and Will and Kara walking in the other direction. They lived close to each other and hadn't realised this may result in actual conversation. They did not speak for a few minutes but it was killing Kara and she had to ask him.

'Was it you at the train station?' she blurted. Will almost jumped at the sudden sound escaping her mouth. He had gotten used to the quiet.

'Yes,' he said quietly. 'You saw me?'

'No, I just had a feeling and then when I saw your boots this morning I knew it was you watching us practise.'

'I need to work on my stealth, clearly.' Will chuckled half-heartedly.

'Or maybe you should stop stalking people.' Kara raised an eyebrow at him.

'There's an idea, but honestly it's no fun.'

'Well no need for more stalking anyways.'

'Did you know who I was, Kara?'

'No idea, I just thought you were a normal doofus.' Kara shrugged.

'Okay, but I'm just saying I knew you were special when I first saw you.' as soon as he said it, Will's eyes widened and he blushed through the darkness. He swore in his mind, a loud and abrupt stop to his stream of consciousness. Kara ignored the comment as much as she could; her soft spot for him was growing and she had to keep up her scowling.

'Whatever, now you know and that's what matters.' She finished the conversation just in time as her street was coming up. 'This is me. Bye, I guess.' She turned and walked away unceremoniously.

'Goodbye, Kara.' Will whispered after her.


	16. Chapter 16

Oops I did it agian. I'm feeling the writing so yeah, have another chapter.

The next day was boring and entirely bland. The time spent at school was the usual nonsense with few highlights and pleasantries. It was last period and the guardians had phys ed. It was torture for Natalia and Cleo, the quiet ones who preferred to sit with a book, whilst it was a fun activity for Mei Lin and Ashley, who had an abnormal amount of energy between them. Kara was too lost in thought to care about the lesson. It was just volleyball and she had been benched so the indifference she felt was only justified in her eyes. She watched her friends having a good time, or in Cleo and Natalia's case – a ball dodging exercise. The two girls were hanging at the back, hoping to not have to hit the ball at any point. Instead Ashley ran towards the net, jumped as high as she could and hit the ball straight down in a fury. She won the point for her team and the rest of the girls cheered.

Soon the coach blew the whistle and it was all over. Natalia sighed in relief and made her way out of the gym. It was a hard task considering everyone was storming the doors at the same time, and in the middle of the crowd, Natalia found herself being pushed into someone. The two tumbled to the side, barely keeping to their feet. Natalia straightened up and glared at the cold eyes staring back at her. Robbie Spencer stood next to her in all his five foot seven glory and round glasses. They made him look like a blond version of Harry Potter but scowling and angry all the time.

'Watch it, Nat. Don't want you falling into a ditch again, do we?' Robbie smirked. Natalia all but tackled him to the ground. She forced a smile.

'No, but you never know when the ground will open beneath your feet, Robbie.' She held back a laugh as she imagined herself willing the earth to open up and swallow him whole. She walked away, the image still floating in her mind – Robbie up to his neck in mud and struggling with the dirt around him - and smiled.

Later the guardians had met with Will and Tia, the seven of them walking to the Silver Dragon. The plan was to open the portal in the basement and Tia would be able to influence the other end's location. It wasn't guaranteed to work since it was the heart that would open the portal but it was worth a shot. As they walked, the group got split off at a traffic light; Will and Kara were holding up the back and got cut off by some businessmen in suits as they tried to cross on the pedestrian green. The rest of the group looked back, Ashley appearing in Kara's mind with some difficulty since Kara was the only good one at keeping her out.

' _We can wait for you?_ ' the redhead asked.

' _We'll catch up, this light's long. Go_.' The leader replied. She wasn't thrilled that it had happened but the streets were too busy to make the large group wait around for them instead of keeping on walking. Ashley nudged the group forward and soon they disappeared into the large crowd. Will was counting the seconds, finding their awkward silence too much to handle whilst his heart did double time. The boy stood nearly a whole head taller than Kara, his head sticking out of the crowd due to his tallness. He could see Ashley's fiery hair and Tia's icy locks getting further away from them. Why wouldn't the stupid traffic light turn already? Kara was trying her best to ignore how close they were standing there, arms touching, fingers just a few centimetres away from each other. It was unbearable. It was unbearable because she didn't hate the close proximity. She felt like she had lived in frost forever and only now was the sun's heat reaching her stranded soul. It was an electric pull towards Will and she resented it with her whole being.

They waited for the green light.

A shadow cross over the street and zipped to the other side and disappeared before anyone could see what it was. It was a large shadow, larger than a pigeon for sure, perhaps a bird of prey, but here in the city? Heads turned towards the clouds; the sky was mostly hidden by thick grey cotton and darkness was creeping in behind it all. It had been a rainy day in Heatherfield and only now towards the evening had the constant rain ceased.

The shadow returned only for a brief second before going away again. It was so fast that one could have thought they imagined it. But Will knew better than that. His eyes scanned the street quickly; people were paying no more attention to the what could have possibly happened but didn't really in their mortal eyes. He decided just as the green light appeared. Kara made to step forward but Will caught her hand and steered her to the right. She snapped her attention to him and glared at him.

'What the-'

'Shut up and follow me.' Will hissed. His eyes searched the sky wildly as he led them in the opposite direction to the Silver Dragon. Kara tried to protest by pulling her hand away from his, but Will's grip didn't loosen – he replied to her attempt by keeping her hand tighter. It was preposterous, Kara thought. She glared at him like many times before and realised for the first time that something was wrong; Will was scared. She stopped struggling and instead tried to keep up, following Will's gaze up to the clouds above them. Whatever was happening, it was happening from above. They made distance fast but the shadow followed them each turn they made. They were getting closer to the Silver Dragon from the eastern side of town but not close enough that Kara would reach out to Ashley. Their connection was bad enough when they were close, now this far apart, it was impossible.

They reached an alley, pacing into it and Will stopped. He let go of Kara's hand and surveyed the system of fire escape stairs along the side of the buildings. They could hide there potentially but he doubted it. Whatever this thing was that it was following them was not from Earth and it would not be stopped by some metal stairs.

'What the hell is going on, Will?' Kara whispered frantically. Will had almost forgotten she was right there next to him. She looked just as panicked as he felt, and it made him guilty. They were supposed to be at the Silver Dragon by now. Instead they were a few miles away and had no idea what was stalking them from above. Will had a few guesses as to what it was but he didn't want to think about what had found his scent this time around. Usually he could disguise it by drinking water and walking around in the rain with no hood on. The water took away the mark of his magical presence but the rain had long stopped.

'Look, whatever happens, let me take care of it and be ready to open a portal.' He replied. Kara's eyebrows were scrunched in confusion.

'I'm not just going to sit back, Will. I can fight too.' She straightened up a little, trying to be menacing.

'Lightning isn't exactly subtle, and if it is what I think it is, it won't be scared of lightning.' He looked over his shoulder; a habit that was increasing since he learned of the new guardians. He was waiting for the attacker at any moment now. The air was stiller, stuffier and it smelled of rain once again but mixed in with something foreign; something wild. Will felt its presence immediately.

'It's a dapor. I knew it.' he mumbled.

'Um, translation?' Kara looked around once more but saw nothing yet.

'Prince Phobos used to cross breed gargoyles and wild boars in the Dark Ages. They're a strictly Meridian breed and by now most of them should be extinct.'

'Well clearly they're not. How did it get to Earth?' Kara's question was never answered.

The shadow was back.

It dropped like a bomb. A leathery, grey bomb that didn't quite detonate. Instead it unfurled its large bat like wings and started swatting them at the two teenagers. They split off, Will jumping to the left and Kara jumping to the right. The creature seemed confused for a moment; it knew the scent of the boy well, but it didn't know the other strange odour. The fact that the creature was half blind didn't help because it couldn't tell the two black blobs apart. It tried to smell which one was which but the two scents had been mixed together for too long and it made its snubbed nose hurt.

Kara was wide eyed and awe-struck. Her instincts told her to transform into her guardian form and strike the thing with lightning. Another part of her wanted her friends badly by her side but they didn't know where she was. Will on the other hand had sort of started to transform into Shagon. His wings were sprouting from his human form and the air around his face was glowing green and gold but he wasn't turning into the entity Kara had seen yesterday. The creature picked its target; Will. It flew towards him, hissing and squealing like a pig, the sound ringing out throughout the empty alley. Will ducked and rolled instead of flying up. The thing retreated and flew up to the second storey. Kara took out the heart; its pinkish glow seemed to distract the creature.

'Don't!' but it was too late. The glow attracted the creature like a moth to a flame. Kara had no time to think as it swooped down headed straight for her. She raised her hands at the last second, a lightning strike erupting from her palms and hitting the dapor square in the chest. But the lightning wasn't strong enough; Kara was in her human form. The dapor squealed in pain and flew upwards again, dipping a little because one of its wings had been singed from the strike. A green beam struck the creature from behind; Will's Shagon form was standing just below the winged beast. He sent another beam flying, this time somehow hotter and more powerful and the dapor shrieked in defeat, flapping its wings helpless whilst it simultaneously dropped in altitude.

'Open it!' Will shouted. Kara's hand holding the heart extended and a familiar bright light appeared, this time lying horizontally on the ground like a strange lit pond. Next two things happened at once; Kara struck the creature with more lightning, this time using the heart as an aid, whilst Will knelt to the portal and waved his hand over it. Kara couldn't make out what Will was saying but it definitely wasn't in English. The portal's glow turned to a deeper blue. The dapor was on its last hopes – flapping uselessly and squealing in distress. It finally fell into the deep blue light and the heart closed the portal immediately.

The alley was silent once again. Kara didn't realise she was clutching the jewel in desperation. Will was turning back into his human form quietly as she took it all in.

'Where did it go?' she asked finally. Will, now looking much more at ease since the creature was gone, looked from her face to the heart and back.

'I sent it to the magic dungeons under Fort Meridian. Every single one of the Queen's men knows the password to get someone in. A few special ones know how to get someone out. That dapor belonged there no doubt, but someone must have released it.' he shook his head in disbelief. A traitor among the Queen's men, but who?

'Okay then, let's get out of here. We need to tell the others.' Kara was calmer but it didn't stop her from thinking about what they could have done to the creature if it was all of them against it. It would have taken two seconds to defeat that thing with all of them united and yet her and Will had managed it by themselves somehow.

'I know a short cut.' Will said.

'To the Silver Dragon? Where?' she knew Heatherfield like the back of her hand, she would know if there was an actual shortcut to the restaurant.

'The heart – we can use it to get there.'

'I can't open portals from Earth to Earth, Will. I'm pretty sure that's not how it works.' Kara huffed.

'No, it's not a portal. You can teletransport using the energy of the heart. Grandma told me. Just picture the place you want to go and will the heart to do it.' Kara shut her eyes and imagined the basement of the restaurant. Nothing happened as she clutched the heart in one hand.

'It's not working. I think this is too advanced for me.' she admitted.

'Come on, try again. Here,' Will put a hand over Kara's that was holding the heart and imagined the Silver Dragon's basement.

Within a second and a flash of blue light, the alley was once again empty and silent.


	17. Chapter 17

Ashley was pacing in the basement of the Silver Dragon whilst the others sat waiting and lost in thought, worried about the loss of their friends. Where were they? Were they okay? What happened? Tia crossed and uncrossed her legs as she stared up at the little rectangular window of the basement. There was hardly any light coming through it and why have a window to something underground, she wondered?

The silence between the five was becoming thicker and unbearable. Nobody wanted to voice their concerns but everyone was thinking the same thing; had they been attacked?

The sudden flash of light startled the room's occupants. Ashley jumped back from the newly materialized people, whilst Mei Lin's stool spun around dangerously close to falling over as she jumped up.

Will and Kara stood together, holding the Heart together in between them. They looked tired and a little rattled but otherwise they seemed fine. In fact, they stared around them in awe, taking in the simply grey walls of the basement. In their fascination, they didn't notice their friends' mouths hanging open. How did they just do that?

'What the heck just happened?' Natalia yelped. Being known for her calmness and collectiveness, her exclamation was nearly as shocking as the couple's materialisation. The two realised how close they were still standing and Will dropped Kara's hands holding the Heart.

'New trick. I'll show you sometime. What did we miss?' Kara's voice was breathy and almost cracked as she talked. Was she really that shaken by the attack or was it something else? Will's shoulders slumped as he sighed and laughed in relief. He felt tired, more than he should have. He leaned a hand on the nearby wall. The power of the Heart had accepted his force in helping them teletransport, but it had taken more than he had hoped for. He seriously needed a nap. And some food.

'Nothing unless you count us freaking out about you disappearing.' Mei Lin's hands flailed around as she gestured sarcastically at the two clad in black and bruises.

'Sorry, ladies. We got, uh, side-tracked by a dapor. It's gone now though.' Will sounded as if he was reassuring himself more than the girls. Kara nodded.

'It better be gone, but I wouldn't mind taking another swing at that thing and teaching it some manners.' She huffed. The others were still shocked and had little to no understanding of the situation. Tia was chewing on her lip, she felt as if her brain was going to explode as she tried to remember what a dapor looked like. She had seen it in a history scroll back home. Her great-uncle Phobos had bred them or something.

'Are you guys sure you're okay?' Ashley asked. Her eyes were still wide, but if anyone could comprehend crazy stuff, it was Ashley. The connection to Kara's mind was present once again; it had scared Ashley to feel it disappear completely. It felt as if her friend had died and come back and she had to tell herself that it was just a mind trick.

'Yeah, we're fine, now let's get to Meridian. Maybe your mother can shed some light on this.' Kara turned to Tia, who nodded and stood up offering her hand to Kara. They stood in the middle of the basement with the light of the Heart shining in their eyes. Tia closed her eyes and muttered something that wasn't in English. The light intensified and a portal opened next to the two girls. It was a lighter blue than normal – as if the sky was behind it this time instead of the ocean.

'I'm hoping we don't end up in a ditch. Let's go.' Tia said, and with that they disappeared into the light.

...

'Yes, I'm familiar with dapors. My uncle had them bred with dark magic.' Queen Anna stood from her seat at the head of the table. She walked around the girls sitting down and wandered to the many shelves in the library. The company was completed with Will and Jax sitting at the other end of the heavy wooden table, both with a large book in hand and a look of concentration plastered across his face. The Queen floated upwards to reach a book, a cloud of dust flying about her as she took it in her hands and went to deposit it onto the table.

'If I'm not wrong, your Majesty,' Jax broke in. He still stared at the book in front of him as he talked. 'Then Phobos was trying to create something mythical – it is believed our Meridian ancestors had bred these creatures to fight against the Gritians many centuries ago when the dimension was lost because of the war.'

'But that means that Phobos must have found Gritia back when he was in power. Is there a record of who found the dimension again and when trade resumed?' Tia was suddenly up and running to the far side of the table where piles of books, scrolls and lose sheets of paper sat.

'He must have wanted to resume the war and win it whilst the Gritians were still unaware of Meridian and its army.' The words tumbled out of Mei Lin's mouth before she could process them – but it made sense to everyone else as they heard the idea. Kara and Ashley nodded.

'I bet he wanted to fight the Gritians like in the legend.' Kara shrugged.

'He rather liked history and how things used to be – normal people were peasants robbed by the monarchy - which is why he created his own Dark Ages I suppose.' The Queen mused. She was still turning the pages of the book in front of her. Her eyes didn't seem to stop anywhere in the page as if the words kept her prisoner until she found the truth.

'Your Majesty, we _had_ a couple of dapors in captivity beneath Fort Meridian…' Will trailed off. It was obvious what he was saying to the Queen; someone within her most trusted ranks had freed the fiend in the first place.

'There was more than one?' Cleo whispered horrified. When everyone looked at her, she hid her blush behind her braid. Jax looked up from his book, and Cleo could swear he seemed almost amused or something.

'My uncle liked to live lavishly, having more than one of things, so yes. We had two in captivity but scholars suspect that some must have gotten away and have claimed a territory somewhere for a few generations now so until word from the Fort comes, we cannot know for sure.' Queen Anna finally looked up from her book. Her hand was resting on a paragraph half way down the page. An empty look haunted her eyes for a few seconds before she snapped out of it.

'I suppose anyone opposing you, your Majesty, could have freed the dapor and sent it after me.' Will frowned. Something wasn't adding up – how would anyone know anything about these creatures that had never been studied? At Fort Meridian they were just fed, not interacted with or anything. So how could anyone do this?

'Being one of my knights must have its perks too, Shagon.' The Queen looked at the boy pointedly. Will suddenly looked younger like he was a kid caught stealing a cookie from the jar after bedtime. His frown turned into a sheepish smile.

'Forgive me, your Majes-' he began, blushing. The Queen waved a hand with a smile.

'I am what you children call "messing with you", Will.' She grinned. Whatever the Queen had read had caused her enough grief to shake it off with a laugh. Tia had not taken her eyes off her mother's hand resting on the page. She attempted a half-hearted laugh like everyone around the table at Will's expense but her eyes stayed trained on the book.

'So, what now?' she asked suddenly when the laughter had died down. She had found what she was looking for – there was a large lettering next to the record for who rediscovered Gritia and when – _unknown_ , it said. The room was grim and silent again.

'I think we must investigate my opposition and who could have the means to track Will. Besides, it may have just been another attempt at brewing a civil war between the people of Meridian. Anyone who uses portals without authorisation, especially to Earth, has it added to their record. It could have been someone framing somebody else.'

'The mitour did find Will exactly, your Majesty. Perhaps it was done with intent.' Jax offered. The Queen looked thoughtful for a moment. She glanced at the page beneath her hand again and spoke carefully, addressing Jax.

'Well then, perhaps we should speak to someone who knows their beasts from their cattle; perhaps someone like your brother, Jax?' the room was silent. Ashley's head was going to split open at the new information; because five different streams of thought were crashing into each over the sudden drop of intel. Granted, Kara's thoughts were far away and quieter and Ashley's own were pushed away quickly enough, but that left Natalia, Mei Lin, and Cleo's thoughts rumbling around her mind like huge boulders clashing down a slope. Jax himself looked beyond surprised at the Queen's suggestions. He hadn't spoken to his brother for months, but they weren't always like that. This wasn't a family thing; it was the Queen asking him to do it. He nodded.

'Great, why don't you take some of the scrolls on dapors and Gritia and go visit him with the guardians?' It wasn't a question, but Queen Anna wasn't big on giving concrete orders when she knew the last option was uncomfortable for one of her most trusted men. As the group were busy getting up from the table, Queen Anna slipped a piece of paper inside the book she had been holding, and closed it in one swift motion. The page was marked. Tia eyed the book as dust flitted around it. She needed to see what it said. Perhaps she wouldn't be able to read the ancient language as well as she could speak it, but it was worth a shot…

Anna turned to her daughter and looked her straight in the eye. Tia had never seen her mother this grave. Not for many years, anyway. Her father's death was the last time she had seen that look and it haunted her still.

'Protect this, child. Let the boys read it, they will know what to ask of our beast expert.' Anna handed the book to Tia, who took it with a solemn nod. 'Good, go now.' To soften the parting, Anna kissed Tia's forehead and let her go. The others were ready to go too.

'If we hurry, we'll be back by sun down.' Jax offered. The group said their goodbyes to the Queen and followed Jax. He carried a book and a scroll, Tia clutched the book her mother had entrusted her, and Will carried another two books.

Outside, two horses waited; one for the Princess and one for Jax. Will smirked and transformed into his alter-self. The guardians were still in their human forms. They shared a look of dismay. Who were they going to meet? Would they meet any monsters? Who was trying to target Will? There were too many questions that hadn't been answered.

'Guardians unite.' Kara said quietly. She held the Heart in her right hand, away from her body as if she needed to get rid of it for a little while. The power was eating away at her – it wanted pay back for letting her use her powers in human form. After a flash of light, an aura of mist and magic took over where the girls were standing, now in their guardian forms. Jax's mouth was hanging agape as he stared with wide eyes. They definitely didn't have girls like that in Meridian. The horses neighed in agreement.

'Shall we?' Will cleared his throat. He was secretly fascinated like Jax and Tia but he didn't want to let it show too much because a certain keeper might notice and use it against him. Was he really that mistrusting? Hadn't Kara showed him enough trust already? She fought by his side without a fuss. Besides, she wouldn't manipulate him like that, and why did he care? He lifted off the ground and sped off, not pausing to follow Jax. Will knew the way too.

Over the plains of Meridian, the company rode. Two horses and their riders sped along the grassy hillsides and fought the wind howling against them. Above in the sunlit sky, six winged figures flew onwards. The guardians had finally settled into a steady pace with their flying, and discussing the day's events.

 _'_ _Why do you think Jax looked so scared to talk to his brother?'_ Natalia asked. The five's hive mind was in perfect balance inside Ashley's host telepathic radio station.

 _'_ _I don't think he's scared but there's something there.'_ Ashley offered. An agreement was reached.

 _'_ _You don't think his brother is like the let-down child or something? Cause if they have that in Meridian then I'm taking back what I said about Meridian being cooler than Earth.'_ Mei Lin hummed.

 _'_ _Guys, let's just meet him and then think about it, okay?'_ Kara's presence was suddenly enforced. Her voice was stronger for that moment, but it was gone once again. How did she do that?

 _'_ _Kara's right, we have other stuff to think about. Like how are we gonna help Will? More monsters might find him on Earth and we need to be his back-up.'_ Cleo interjected. She knew a thing or two about not having anyone have her back and she wanted to do everything in her power to show things could be different.

 _'_ _Shagon-sitting rota?'_ Ashley attempted. The girls got an image of the redhead shrugging her shoulders.

 _'_ _Maybe, hey, actually that's not a bad idea, Ash.'_ Mei Lin did a quick summersault and caught up to Ashley to give her a high five. _'And maybe Kara should have the first shift.'_

 _'_ _Kara should what?'_ Kara jumped in. _'I heard my name.'_

 _'_ _You're gonna Shagon-sit Will.'_ Natalia raised an eyebrow at the keeper's confused face. A furious blush was threatening to appear on her pale face. Her dark hair was blown by the wind to cover her face.

 _'_ _It's like you want me to hate life.'_ Kara grunted. Or she tried to because there was a soft ring to her voice and the guardians giggled. Of course, she wanted to help Will, but she was conflicted with feelings she didn't know she had. Could the others sense it, or was her tough-chick image thick enough? She swore to herself and dropped in altitude so she was as far away from Will as possible in flight.

Below them, the plains were starting to even out and a small group of buildings that looked like a farm was appearing in front of them. It was a cluster of similar looking barns and possibly houses but it was too far away to tell. As they approached, the riders slowed down and the flyers went lower. There were visible fences around some areas, and it soon became clear why. Cattle. Loads of cows, like everywhere. And then somethings that looked like cows but were unmistakably not cows for they were a strange redish colour and much bigger in size. What kind of demon cows did they have here in Meridian? And was this what the Meridians traded for metal with Gritians?

 _'_ _We're at a ranch. Meridian has ranches.'_ Natalia saw a large pond like shape of mud from the sky and steered away from it. A sudden flash of memory invaded her mind; she was younger and drenched in mud whilst Robbie Spencer laughed at her as she lay in a ditch. She shook herself and unintentionally veered away from the mud. Her guardian outfit was way too cute to ruin. Besides, it's not like they could dry clean them, right?

The party stopped at the edge of the fenced area which led into the so called ranch. They all landed or came off their horses just as a stranger came to the gate to meet them from inside one of the houses. He walked carefully but with purpose, staring straight at the two boys at the front of the group. As he came closer, he started to look really familiar to the girls. There's no way they could have met him before, but something about his sandy blond hair and hard eyes made him look like someone not so distant. Was he Jax's brother?

'What are you doing here?' he spoke. His voice had an edge to it, rough and hurt at the same time. This must have been who they came to see. He set his hands on the gate, leaning forward and warding them off at the same time.

'We need your help, Abe...' Jax lowered his head. It was almost as a sign of respect but Abe's eyes only hardened. ' _I_ need your help, brother.'

'You and I both know that is not my name, _brother_. And why is the demon here?' Abe shot Will with a glare.

'Hey-' Kara tried but Will shushed her by putting a hand on her shoulder. She didn't flinch away for once. What did he mean "demon"? He was one of the Queen's men.

'I would not have come here if it were not the Queen's order. And this is your Princess you are ignoring.' Jax insisted, squaring up to Abe's position at the gate. The two brothers stared each other down; they looked almost nothing alike except for their stature and warriors' aura. Abe's hands were calloused for someone so young, probably because of all the work he did here. Abe turned for the first time to survey his brother's entourage. His gaze fell over each of them in turn, taking in their wings and colourful clothes. He knew who they were immediately. Then his eyes softened when he took in Tia. It was subtle but Jax, Will and Natalia closest to Abe noticed.

'Forgive me, your Highness.' Abe lowered his head in a similar way to how Jax had. Tia's Earth clothes struck him as weird but he figured it out quickly enough.

'Bear please, we need to ask your some questions.' Tia's hand reached out to touch Abe's on the gate. He blinked slowly and looked at the horses.

'Your horses are parched. Come in.'


	18. Chapter 18

Abe opened the gate with a hint of defeat.

 _'_ _What is his name?'_ Ashley thought. She thought way too loud because the rest of the girls heard her.

 _'_ _Apparently it's Bear, hmm, weird.'_ Mei Lin sent a similar image of herself shrugging as Ashley had done before.

 _'_ _Whoever he is, he's letting us in. Come on.'_ Natalia followed Tia inside. Jax and his brother took the horses to one of the nearby stables and fixed them up with some water. Then the group walked to the house that Abe/Bear had come out of. There were large windows inside on each wall so there was a clear view of each side of the outside; it was obvious they had been spotted from a distance. They sat around a table; most of the girls had been seated as the boys stood around including Kara and Ashley.

'So, ask away, your Highness.' The sandy haired boy took up a position next to Tia at the head of the table. She smiled and gestured to the guardians.

'Let me introduce the new Guardians of the Veil, Bear. This is Ashley, Kara, Cleo, Natalia and Mei Lin.' Each one nodded or smiled at the stranger in turn.

'If the Veil needs guarding then I suppose we have a situation. I'm Bear, good to meet you.' he said.

The scrolls and books had been set in front of Tia. She began opening the book from her mother. The marker was still exactly in place and she felt a flood of relief. The only problem was that she really couldn't decipher most of it. Whilst the boys had been learning more of the ancient language, she had been preparing for writing in English; Earth English.

'The Queen would like you to read this, it holds answers.' Tia pointed to the page and handed it to Bear. His expression did not change in the slightest as he read; surely if the Queen had been rattled then everyone else who read it would be too? Tia observed his tranquillity in wonder. She couldn't make out any of the words' meanings. Bear pushed the book towards Jax and Will and they took a moment to read it.

'It's a record of how to control a dapor. Will and Kara were attacked by one on Earth.' Jax's brow scrunched in confusion.

'It's old. This is the oldest form of the ancient language. Was this in the castle's archive?' Bear showed no concern at the mention of the attack. What was his problem with Will?

'This one was from the Infinite City but it was in the castle for at least three months.' Jax explained. Bear nodded; it was as if the gears of his brain were visibly turning.

'What about Fort Meridian – was it one of the dapors there?' he asked.

'We don't know yet. We're waiting on word from the Fort, but there's a chance the mastermind of the attack was from the Queen's ranks.' Jax clarified. Bear nodded silently. He was once again reading over the book, mouthing some of the words with a confused expression. Tia stared a little too harshly at him, or at least she felt she was. Her fascination with Bear had started when they were young; Jax, Bear and Will would be around a lot at the castle because their grandparents were all friends. Unfortunately they were the only ones out of the grandchildren of the old guardians who had anything to do with Meridian; Teranee's and Irma's grandchildren had grown up on Earth with no sign of magic and no knowledge of the brave new world through the blue light. Well, they were told stories just like the others, but that's they were to them – stories. And so the four had grown up closely. They studied together, they trained together, even though Tia took up the Earth English so she could go there some day.

'Tia?' Ashley's nudged the fair-haired girl with her arm. Tia had been so lost in the past that she forgot the present was right next to her. Bear was right next to her.

'Sorry! Carry on.' Tia felt her cheeks burning but luckily no one paid attention.

'I was just saying that maybe you could look into the guards at the Fort. I know a few men who work there, but I trust them – and they wouldn't be able to read this.' Bear pointed to the book.

'What did they have to do?' Natalia asked.

'Well, there would have to have been some kind of bond to the dapors; most creatures need time to trust humans, especially if they were otherwise ignored and treated indifferently.' Bear turned the page. 'Then they would have had to get the cages open and find a way to cast a spell for opening a portal without authorisation therefore the criminal must be a magician of some kind. And another thing is that he had to have known Will very well to cast a tracking spell like that.' Bear finished. He shifted his gaze to around the table.

'Many of the Queen's men have been targeted. It's not just me.' Will said.

'But it was you with the mitour and the dapor.' Jax insisted. He couldn't understand why Will was suddenly downplaying the attacks. Was he trying to show Bear he didn't need his help? Their grudges of old would have to be squared if they were to complete anything now.

'A mitour. I wonder how you handled that, demon.' For the first time that day. Bear seemed vaguely amused. He threw the word "demon" around and it was starting to bother Kara a lot. Will was no demon, sure he was this weird angel-of-death-type creature but he was a good guy.

'Better than you handle your vaceres, cow boy.' Will crossed his arms. Shagon's golden mask made him look emotionless and metallic; far from the real smugness that was in Will's personality. Bear looked like he was going to counter the remark, but was cut off by his brother.

'Bear! Can we focus, please?' Jax barely raised his voice but the sound carried above all and demanded respect in its simplest vocation. Bear looked at his brother and thought about how much Jax looked like their father and grand-father as he stood there, tall and authoritative like a leader; something Bear never wanted to be.

'Yeah, anyway. History is also something to consider. Dapors aren't well known, so that for starters would have been information hard of hearing, let alone finding a way to tame one. I say you could easily narrow down your options and find the criminal and maybe stick him in the cage with the dapors if he likes them so much.'

'Hey, so if the dapors are connected to the ancient war between Gritia and Meridian, then is this somebody's way of trying to bring the two dimensions to actually fighting?' Mei Lin asked. She had been thinking long and hard about the fact that Meridian was on firstly on the brink of civil war, but also the fact that Gritia didn't respect the new Queen.

'Maybe, but I'm hoping this is just a rogue; not something serious.' Jax concluded. 'Thank you, Bear. We appreciate the help.' The brothers nodded to one another. It was so serious, that one wouldn't be sure they were brothers or just soldiers in the same battalion.

'We have plenty to go on. I want to find whoever it was and make sure he doesn't target the Queen.' Will looked around, his face clearly determined and it struck the guardians that they had been underestimating Will from the beginning. He was more warrior than any of them had thought. On the other hand, Bear was keeping an eye on him as if he thought Will was the a piece of dirt on his shoe.

'Maybe you should be more careful with who you trust.' Bear concluded. He walked away to the window to look around. Nothing was going on outside. The vaceres were grazing calmly in the distant fields. All was okay. Except to Bear it wasn't; the demon was in his home once again. The princess was taking his side, and not being interested in how Bear was. Typical. Since they were kids, Bear had been on the outside, and it had all been Shagon's fault. Everything had been great when he wasn't around, Bear remembered. Tia would have eyes only for him and not his brother or the demon. His father had been proud of him once upon a time until the demon dug his way into the family. Just because their grandparents were friends, it didn't mean that Bear wanted to be friends with Will. But poor Will was an orphan and Bear's family took him in. Jax loved Will dearly like a brother – more than his own flesh and blood. That much was obvious.

The company started to leave and go outside. They had lots of work to do. The two brothers bought up the rear of the group. They were out of earshot of the others so Jax attempted to converse with his brother.

'You should come home sometime.' Jax looked to his brother's eyes, which he did not meet. He felt a universe apart from Bear. 'Dad would love it if you did…' Jax trailed off.

'I am home. Besides, he wouldn't want the beastly vaceres smell entering his house, would he?' Bear scoffed harshly.

'You're wrong, he misses you. Maybe you could-' Jax was cut off.

'I could what? Stop being the biggest disappointment you know?' Bear felt himself laughing at the thought. 'I am here and that is what it is.' Bear said with bitterness and defiance.

'Do not say I did not try. Goodbye, brother.' Jax hopped on to his horse and started toward the gate.

'Please come to the palace soon? Promise me you will, Bear?' Tia was suddenly standing next to him, her hand on his shoulder. Her mere presence made him feel like he was losing his mind. A strange sensation filled his gut and the memories started to flood in. They used to be close and he wanted nothing more to hug her but it was not the right moment. He allowed himself to smile at her.

'As you wish, your highness.' He said quietly and very aware that they had an audience. Mainly his brother and the demon. He did not want them to see his weakness.

The guardians and their companions bid their host goodbye and left him standing on the porch of his home. He watched them as they grew smaller with the distance, his mind wandering aimlessly in the plains of memory, his eyes hard as he fought off tears.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N I had some exams which took up a long time but it's over for now. Short update because I'm working on moving this on. Merry Christmas and thanks for the patience!

The group had worked for hours on the scrolls and books in the library of the palace as the sun set and the darkness took over Meridian. They were getting closer to finding out about not only the dapor attack but the mitour attack too. There was no obvious link yet, but it was still early to call it a coincidence – there were no such things as coincidences…

After having dinner, everyone trying to lighten the mood with friendliness as they ate, the group dispersed; the guardians and Will left for Earth, whilst Jax mounted his horse to return home. They bid the princess and her mother goodnight, and disappeared.

Back on Earth, a flash of blue light bought the guardians next to the back door of the Silver Dragon. They were haggard but excited simultaneously. Mei Lin waited as her friends dispersed further. Natalia and Ashley took the bus heading uptown, and waved back as the bus sped off. Cleo hopped on the downtown bus and smiled warily as the Silver Dragon disappeared from view. Will and Kara said goodnight and started to walk. They may as well walk together since they lived so close to each other and to Mei Lin.

Will shoved his hands in his pockets and retreated into his mind as Kara shuffled next to him. He hadn't been mentally prepared to see Bear today. It had been perhaps a cruel trick of the fates; the only person who could help them about the beasts was the one person who couldn't stand him in this universe. Not that Will loved Bear much, but he at least had some respect for the boy. The feeling was not mutual, he thought.

Since they were kids, Bear had built up a wall to distance himself from Will, and therefore from his brother too because the two had become pretty inseparable. Will knew that this was Bear's way of fighting his inevitable jealousy. Their father had welcomed Will as a son when he was in Meridian, and Tia had as a friend, and Bear could not handle that truth. Will had ignored Bear's wild jealousy as they grew up, mostly because he hid it so well that it came off as hostility and anger, but Will knew it towards Bear's own jealousy.

'So what's with Bear, huh?' Kara asked, breaking the silence between them. Will wasn't surprised she had noticed, but he was surprised she asked him so openly.

'He doesn't like me. That's all.' Will stared up at the night sky; there were no stars tonight because they were hidden by a thick smog of clouds.

'Yeah, that much I guessed. You shouldn't let him call you a demon like that.' Kara countered.

'Look, I really don't care what Bear calls me, okay? We just needed his so called expert opinion on something and now it's over.' Will pushed onwards down the street, making Kara take bigger and faster steps. She silently damned his height.

'It'll never be over. You said yourself it's been like that since you were kids.'

'It doesn't matter-'

'Yes it does, Will! This is just another burden to bear.'

'Stop it alright! I don't need you to look out for me or whatever. I can handle Bear on my own.' Will said gruffly. Kara was taken aback. She had to fight really hard to keep up with Will's agitated pace.

'I never said you couldn't. Haven't your parents ever told you to stand up to people who treat you like dirt?' Kara said.

'My parents are dead so no, they didn't. And I don't need it from you.' Will snapped. Kara shut up, embarrassed.

'I'm sorry.' She said carefully. She hated it when others faked sympathy, so she said nothing else. Sure she felt awful that she just bought it up, and that she had pushed Will perhaps a little too much, but it also made her realise that she cared about Will. Perhaps a little too much.

'Some things work themselves out. It happened so long ago, it doesn't even register in my mind anymore.' Kara recognised the echoed edge to Will's voice from before. They had been walking together just a few days ago. It felt like forever ago.

'I suppose.' Kara paused. 'I really am sorry; for pushing you about Bear. You know what you're doing.' they had arrived at Kara's street, her house just fifty metres away.

'It's okay. Can I walk you to your door?' the corners of Will's mouth turned up. Kara nodded, grateful. The air was getting colder as the night descended upon them, making their breath come out in a faint fog.

'I'll see you tomorrow. You out by seven thirty?' Will asked. What was he doing, asking me? Kara thought. He had no idea himself, it seemed.

'Yeah, about right. You don't have to come though, it's fine.' Kara assured him.

'It's okay, I want to.' Will shrugged. 'Well, see ya.'

'See ya.' Kara watched him walk away, her mind swirling with confusion. What just happened? Had he voluntarily asked to hang out with her? What a strange day; the dapor, then the demon cows, and now this. This black winged angel, a demon in the form of a boy, making her completely confused. She smiled and went inside.


	20. Chapter 20

Weeks passed as the clock turned on Earth and Meridian. The autumn leaves fell as grains of sand in the hourglass which stood grandly on a table in Tia's room. She stared at the strange blue sand as it fell from the top compartment to the bottom. Her short blond hair fell across her face as she lay her head on the table.

Any and all sounds were distorted by the solidity of the table. She sighed. She had been so lost these past few weeks. Life on Earth was so great now that she had her friends with her - believing in her and being with her - and yet she was so rooted there in Meridian.

She thought of Bear all the time; having seen him sparked so many memories of him wandering around the gardens of the castle instead of playing or training with Jax and Will. She'd watched him from her balcony for ages. Sometimes she'd go and wander around with him.

Now the memories haunted her. He had moved away to the countryside so he could be with the animals just like he'd always wanted so of course she was happy about that - he was doing what he wanted. But she hardly ever saw him. Those weeks ago when she saw him, talked to him, were stuck in her mind like one of those terrible Earth songs. When you start thinking about people, it all goes wrong, she thought. You start to miss them.

It was the weekend and the gang had taken a couple of days off of looking through records and trying to figure out - well everything. It was all a mess and it couldn't be helped. They were not nearer to solving the dapor attacks because every single man's alibi had checked out so there was no one to have attacked Will and Kara on purpose. Something still wasn't right.

Tia decided to get up and do something instead of mope about the mess they were in. Meanwhile, the Gritians had been making accusations of the Meridians cheating them with stocks; they were to stop any business if nothing was done about it, yet it was obvious from the story the traders bought back that there was nothing amiss on their behalf. It all seemed perfectly unreasonable.

Queen Anna had proposed a diplomatic visit to which the Gritians had refused. They were acting like they wanted to sever all ties with Meridian and the Meridians were not happy about it. There had been a couple of rumoured riots which broke out before the Queen's men could find them, all allegedly led by one man, who seemed to slink away into nothing as soon as any guards appeared and vanish without a trace. He seemed to be only a shadow amongst them, and that worried the Queen immensely.

Tia found herself strolling around the garden of her childhood. She imagined Bear was there with her and they were together again. The grass was cold and prickly beneath her bare feet, the sun was still high in the sky but it was getting near winter. On Earth it was already late October. In Meridian the seasons were milder depending on how far south you went. Tia wanted snow some days, but snow was harsh in Meridian so she wished it away for the sake of her people.

Her people were divided. It was as if some awful demon had taken over their minds and was turning them against each other. It was hardly real to her because she barely saw any of it. She heard glimpses of it from Jax and his father when they came in to the castle. She wanted to see for herself and stop if she could. The people of Meridian were peaceful, and yet, something was wrong.

She wanted to escape the thoughts for at least a little while because the worry of what was going on and what could be going on was driving her insane. It was decided. Tia stalked back to the castle, changed into some Earth jeans - they were very comfortable for riding indeed - and then snuck off to the stables to find a horse. A beautiful beige stallion greeter her as son as she entered. Perfect. Tia saddled him quickly and hopped onto his back.

The village was quiet for the moment, the afternoon rush of work had died away, and the streets were fairly empty. Tia's stallion cantered through quickly, but Tia had enough time to glimpse the divide between her people; an old woman, who was one of the best seamstresses in town and was sometimes commissioned to sew some of the Queen's robes, was being turned away from a man selling fabrics at the market square.

"...why should I sell to you when you support the Queen? She's not good enough to rule and soon all our business will be in shambles!" the man was raising his voice at the old woman. Tia recognised the woman immediately and turned her horse around.

"Excuse me, sir, is there a problem here?" she said sweetly to the man once she got off her horse. The old woman's face lit up when she saw Tia.

"Your Highness... I, um," the man's face turned red and he felt awfully guilty for denying the woman her usual supplies. "Here, Agathe, have a good day." the man handed Agathe a thick green cloth folded in a neat pile, nodded to the princess, and scurried away. Tia turned to the woman.

"Are you okay, Agathe?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you, Princess Tia. May your days be long and happy." Agathe took Tia's hand and bought it to her mouth for a light kiss. It was a grandmotherly gesture and it made Tia's heart swell a little, reminder her of her own sweet grandmother.

"Thank you. If you ever have any troubles, please know you can always come to me or my mother." And with that the two went their separate ways. Tia got back on her horse and smiled as they rode into the distance.

The quaint little cattle farm soon came into view. It was just as it was those few weeks ago. They arrived quickly at the gate. Bear had been waiting for them for a while - he had seen them coming from a long way away. He smiled as Tia hopped down from her horse and led him inside the gate to meet Bear.

"Your Highness, what a pleasant surprise." Bear said. He offered to take Tia's horse and led her inside the farm. She already felt a bit better.

"I hope I am not intruding, Bear." she said. Her face was lit up with happiness, Bear noted and he felt his own content at seeing Tia.

"Of course not, there is all the time in the world for you." he tried to cut himself short before he said anything embarrassing but it was far too late.

"I'm only a princess, I don't think I deserve anything like that." she laughed.

"It is not the case with due respect, you Highness, you are first and foremost my friend." Bear led them toward a small table under a wooden awning. It was a sweet place - just a few chairs and it was hidden from the rest of the farm.

Why couldn't it always be so peaceful?

The two sat down, a freshly made pot of tea between them and talked for a long time about this and that. It was a strange thing; a sort of reunion of long lost friends. Tia had been so busy for the past couple of weeks; the Earth responsibilities were getting to her, as well as the unsolved mystery attacks. She wanted as much as anyone to find the culprit and see what it's all about. It was going to be her kingdom someday, after all. Yet, she needed this break, this relief of just relaxing.

"So is Earth really that great?" Bear asked. Tia nodded, then made a face.

"I guess it has its faults too though, the people there are not as peaceful as the majority of Meridians. They fight many wars, and most of them are meaningless slaughter." she said.

"I suppose all wards are quite meaningless, the most we fight about here is for the freedom and lives of the people. Who's in power and who is not. Perhaps we are not so different to the Earthlings, though we do not kill as many people in the wars. What about the new guardians, what are they like?"

"Oh, they're the best!" Tia grinned. "When I first went to Earth it was really difficult to adjust, especially because I only knew Will, but I started to hang out with them, and they are sweet and understanding so it made everything much easier." Bear tried to contain his slight annoyance to the mention of Will; this was his time with Tia, and even when he wasn't here, Will somehow weaselled his way into a conversation.

"I'm glad to hear it, they seemed nice when I met them." Bear sipped his tea, unsure whether to ask or not. "Are you...happy on Earth?" he attempted. Perhaps it was his fear of the answer; what if Tia loved it so much she renounced the throne and went to live on Earth full time? What would he do then? He didn't want to let her go now that fate had bought them together again.

"Sure, but it doesn't matter what universe I'm in, it's really who I'm with and what I'm doing. I like Earth, but I will always love Meridian more." Good answer, Bear thought, but instead of saying anything, he smiled.

"Are you happy, Bear?" Tia's eyes met his across the table and held him for a few golden moments. He had green eyes, dark and rooted in the leaves of tress like the forests behind the farm. He was an embodiment of wilderness, of the earth. It was something he had inherited from his grandmother Cornelia.

"Yes. Being out here is..." better than being at home with a family which doesn't respect me, Bear thought. "Freedom. I get to work with the animals all day, outside in the fresh air. I feel like I'm a part of the landscape, the ancient spirits of the land; balanced and real." he thought about waking up every morning and just walking around as the dawn made the world come to life once again. The sunlight spreading through the hills around the farm and making everything brand-new. It was a little haven that was all his. Not his brother's. Not Will's.

"I wish I could get away sometimes. The palace is great, but there's a guard around every corner. I feel as if someone is watching me all the time."

"There's hardly anyone around here for miles, you are always welcome, your Highness." Bear suggested.

"Please, Bear, call me Tia. 'Your Highness' is so not us." Tia laughed lightly. Her last word echoed in Beat's mind. Us. It was nothing clearly, but he clung on to that tiny bit of hope. It could happen, he thought.

"Of course, as you wish, Tia." Her name on his lips felt right.

Who knew there was so much in a name?


	21. Chapter 21

On Earth, time seemed to be slowing down and speeding back up in odd intervals. The past week had zipped by and it was the start of the Halloween weekend; there would be celebrations all around, for the holiday itself was on the following Monday.

The gang had been invited to Chris Lourel's party. Most of their class had been, and it was going to be something huge. Chris lived in a big house out in the suburbs, not too far from the abandoned train station. He had been thrown into popularity because of his older brother Danny, who a few years before hi had earned status as the best party thrower in Heatherfield Institute, and it was common knowledge that the guy knew how to have a good time.

As Halloween was a major holiday, it was not going to be a missed opportunity for something significant. Unfortunately Queen Anna had a gut feeling that she had her own business to take care of instead of send her daughter to Earth parties. She insisted that she would spend some time carefully assessing the guards she let into her palace. The previous incidents of the attacks really hadn't only targeted Will. some guards on patrol in the village, who were quite loyal to the royal family, had been victims too. Nobody had been seriously hurt though, which was something, Anna thought.

The whole thing was ridiculous so Anna had decided to take care of the problem is she could. It meant though that Tia's presence would also be required - it was a good learning point for her training as queen. So no Earth parties for Tia this time around. The guardians had offered to come and observe too but the Queen had declines as she thought the guardians may alarm some of the men. There had been word of them through the village since they confronted the rioters, however not many had seen them in person.. It would be a show of power which Anna did not want to exercise; she respected her guards too much to threaten them with the guardians.

As soon as the Friday bell went, the girls all shot home to find their costumes. Ashely was to accompany her brother Patty trick or treating for a while so naturally she begged Natalia to come along with her. They both dressed simple in denim dungarees and yellow shirts, mimicking the famous yellow creatures by the name of Minions. Yellow was surprisingly in style at the moment, but the two girls would not outshine Patty's super cool ninja costume.

Somewhere on the other side of town, Cleo was adding the finishing touches to her Greek goddess costume. She loved mythology so it was kinda perfect. She wore a sheet wrapped over a pair of shorts and white t-shirt as to resemble a dress, and flat shoes which resembled sandals. Her hair sat untouched in a side braid topped off with a silvery headband. Thankfully it was a relatively warm October so it was no trouble.

Mei Lin almost had to go as a waitress at the Silver Dragon because her shift ended about a half hour before the party began. In a nick of time, she managed to find herself some beige three-quarter length pants and a darker shirt to match, she tied her hair in a bun and wrapped a white scarf around herself. Her neighbours were watching Star Wars really loudly so it inspired Mei Lin to be Rey for Halloween.

Kara was running late thought she had given some thought to her costume previously; she was going to be Harley Quinn. Half her hair was spray painted red, but she wore a similar outfit like Margot Robbie had in the Suicide Squad film. The reason for her delay was the map; it had triggered the Heart into acting crazy, floating about and shinning uncontrollably. No new portals had shown up, but something was definitely up so Kara shoved the map into her bag.

Will rang the bell at six on the dot.

Kara's brother Mike opened the door before Kara could reach it. The older boy looked at the visitor with slight amusement; Will's outfit was probably the most authentic thing he had ever seen. Will was a viking. He looked like he was ready to form a shield wall and fight some Saxons or something. He had gone as far as braiding his hair like a viking and hanging an axe off his belt.

"Kara! There's a pagan here to see you." Mike called out. Will balanced awkwardly on his heels for a second. "So you're going out with my sister?" Mike challenged. Will nearly lost his balance but stopped himself from falling.

"What? No, no way, we're just friends." he said. It sounded like he was trying to reassure himself more than Mike, who raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, but I mean, I see you walking her home every day, and to school. I wouldn't mind it if you were," Mike lowered his voice in a deeply menacing way. "But I just want to make sure that you know if you hurt her, I'll break your-"

"Hey! We should go. Bye Mike!" Kara came to the rescue. She hadn't heard her brother's threatening comment to Will, but the sooner they left, the better. Will didn't need to be told twice to go.

"Sorry about him, he's...disturbed." Kara huffed as the two made their way to the Silver Dragon. They barely looked at each other until they were a good half kilometre away from the house. Kara let her eyes wander to his hair, to the fur resting on his shoulders, and his shield. It wasn't hard to work out he had borrowed some of it from Meridian though it fit perfectly with the concept.

"So why a viking?" Kara nudged him playfully.

"Why not?" Will shrugged.

"It's unconventional." Kara said.

"Well, I think it's better than trying to be a Prince Charming, y'know?"

"You're right," Kara paused. Will felt like she was going to say something heartfelt. "You don't have the sophistication for being a prince, besides, you smell like a viking anyway." she laughed. The usual sarcasm it was, then. Will ignored her razzing reply and laughed along, secretly a little hurt she didn't say something encouraging.

"I guess, but it's also because my father's side of the family, the Olsens, come from Denmark. My grandpa explained it to me; it goes way back."

"Explains your cheekbones and height." Kara muttered. Will sighed.

"Hey, I'm only six-two."

" _Only?_ " Kara shot him a look. Will thought about it for a second.

"I see your point."

Will was suddenly lost, wandering around on a street in Copenhagen as snow fell around him. He was ten years old and his parents were still alive. It had been the first time he had flown on a plane, and it was the last family holiday he would ever have. The memory hit him like a train and he wanted to scream. He wanted to scream for the injustice the universe had served him, he wanted to scream so his parents could hear him wherever they were, and he wanted to scream so Kara could tell him to shut up.

"You okay?" she asked instead. He had been looking straight ahead, walking mechanically, and she was starting to worry. His eyes were unfocused and the street lights were reflected in the glassy blues of his irises. He snapped to attention.

"Yeah." they walked in silence the rest of the way. Kara was starting to wonder how they had become so comfortable with each other without noticing it the past few weeks; they had previously wanted to murder each other, but that was before they started talking. Now, well now she liked him so killing him was out of the question.

* * *

"Who's ready to partay?" Ashley hopped the last two steps of the basement in the Silver Dragon. She and Natalia were last to arrive at the rendez-vous point. They both looked hyped out from all the candy they ate, but also ready to go for even more sugary garbage just to top the night off in a new record for Halloween binge eating. Natalia was starting to regret agreeing to go for trick or treating, but alas, she popped another lollipop and between her lips. It was probably the last one she'll ever eat because she couldn't bear the thought of stuffing herself ever again.

"I was going to suggest we eat something before we go, but you guys look like you're full of sugar already." Mei Lin said. She was listening to the sounds of people upstairs in case anyone came down. It wouldn't matter today because they weren't doing anything guardian related, but it was still a force of habit.

"We should probably go if we want to be fashionably late or whatever." Cleo said. Ashley was first to bolt up the stairs; the redhead's excess energy was showing big time. The others trailed behind, Will going last, subconsciously trying to prove that he did in fact have some gentlemanly qualities contrary to Kara's beliefs.


	22. Chapter 22

The party was in full blast by the time they got there. It was still early in the evening however, the house was packed so full of sweaty teenagers in costumes that one could have mistaken it for a junior Comic Con or something. The gang integrated well into the party, splitting up to different rooms eventually as people from school came and talked to them. There was a great commotion all around as loud, bass-heavy music blared from a stereo system somewhere in the living room. Natalia found herself walking around sheepishly in her dungarees, regretting adding some goggles onto her head like a headband. She went to stand by the window which was opened just a crack to let some crispy October air in. She felt her sugar high falling and her mind was boggled from all the energy. Maybe this whole Halloween thing was a bad idea.

And it was about to get a whole lot worse.

Robbie Spencer rounded the corner and spotted Natalia a couple of meters in front of him. As soon as he saw her, his face distorted itself into a smug and somewhat evil smirk. This was accented by the fake blood painted down his chin; it was supposed to be dripping from his mouth menacingly but Natalia thought it looked like he was just bad at eating pasta. She could see it in his eyes that tonight he felt a little cheekier than usual. Oh great, Natalia thought. Part of her told her to pretend their eyes didn't meet and run away quickly before he moved past the bodies separating them, yet another part of her told her to stand up and fight him, if that's what he wanted.

"Who're you supposed to be? That guy from Twilight?" Natalia said. She sipped her drink - non-sugary, very wholesome, and very under appreciated - water.

"No, I'm Roman Godfrey from Hemlock Grove. Jeez, I thought you read, Nats." Robbie seemed annoyed as he ran a hand through his hair. The action was very much in character, she thought. His intense eyes and the ever present scowl on Robbie's face had uncanny resemblances to those of the fictional character.

"Whatever, you should have dressed as Pennywise cause you're already a clown. And I wouldn't be able to see your face." Natalia found herself trying to push him away before he could say anything about her. Robbie surprised her by laughing.

"Well, at least I would be something original. I saw your terror twin in the hallway and she looked way better." he shrugged as if to say, _too bad you're so lame_. Natalia rolled her eyes.

"Why are you even talking to me?" she put her cup on the windowsill and crossed her arms. Robbie shrugged dissmissively.

"Maybe because I get a rush from making you squirm. You're an easy target, Nats."

"And you're just a bully, _Robert_. What have I ever done to you anyway?"

Robbie's eyes narrowed at her; he hated being called that. Served him right, thought _Nats_. Robbie stepped closer and towered over her; he must have grown at least half a foot since the last time they terrorised each other. He glared down at Natalia, making her shrink into herself a little. She hated the feeling; it was a sort of breathlessness combined with fear and anger, and only Robbie made her this jittery.

"Don't pretend as if you don't know." he sneered. Natalia was more than perplexed; she had very little recollection of anything more than the ditch accident. The mud had been in her hair for days.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. She was getting really annoyed at him now. It wasn't enough for him to ruin her night by existing, but he had the audacity to play the victim? And who knew for what?

"Seriously?" Robbie shook his head in disbelief. Natalia had no idea what he was talking about. It really was that simple. She had been a mostly energetic kid so she must have played a lot with him when their families were on vacation together all those years ago, but what else?

"Totally." she insisted. Then it got worse. Or maybe it was better, Natalia couldn't decide. Robbie's glare loosened a little. He closed the distance between them and planted his lips gently onto hers. The shock registered in Natalia's brain with a large and agonising delay getting through her system as she closed her eyes and kissed him back for a couple of seconds. When her body finally got the idea from her brain, she stepped back and stared at him.

"What is your problem? You can't just bully me and then kiss me." she hissed at him. She looked around her, afraid that someone noticed the incident. She wasn't so mad that someone kissed her tonight. No, she was mad that it was Robbie. Her face was hot and she felt a strong urge to punch him so that his mouth bled for real. But then he wouldn't be a good kissed anymore, her brain echoed inside her mind. She made the sudden weak thought perish.

"Relax," Robbie was just as surprised even though it was his fault the whole thing happened. "I'm proving a point." the corners of his mouth were angled into a frown, as if it was such an unpleasant thing he just did.

"Proving a point-" Natalia mimicked. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" she suddenly felt the most violent she had in her entire life. Or was that flustered, she wondered. Robbie sighed laboriously.

"When we were seven years old, we went to the mountains, remember? The little cabin place? We were at this lake and-"

Natalia's thoughts drifted to the yesteryear. It was all hazy but slowly it dawned on her. She wanted to slap herself. Oh how stupid she had been! More importantly, how had she forgotten? You don't forget kissing someone just like that.

"And I kissed you." her shoulders sagged. It was ridiculous. What kind of silly brat had she been back then?

"Yes, then you forgot all about me. You carried on as if nothing happened. Like I meant nothing to you..." Robbie trailed off.

"We were kids! It didn't mean anything!" Natalia said frantically. The music was fairly loud so they could speak at a normal volume without anyone overhearing. "Besides, you pushed me into a ditch. That must have made you feel better."

"See, that's where you're wrong. I liked you and I never pushed you anywhere. You fell by yourself. I just watched." he said. The whole thing seemed off kilter for Natalia. Then she got back to being mad at him.

"I still don't get what point you're trying to prove." she crossed her arms again, this time as a way of barricading herself from him. He had retreated into himself too. He just seemed a little hurt now, like a sad puppy.

"I'm proving that after all this time, you still don't care." and with that he turned his back and walked away. Natalia stared at his silhouette disappearing into the crowd, uncomprehending most of what just happened. The music blared loudly and she tried to lose herself in the noise. There were too many things to try and understand. She went out the back door and sat down on the porch. There was no one else there due to the temperature so it was perfect for cooling off.

* * *

Somewhere on the other side of the house, Ashley was still in her hyper active mode. She was winning a crazy dance game against a short freshman girl who very much looked like a ballerina. Each time the poor girl seemed to be getting the moves on the screen, Ashley was five steps ahead, the sugar rush boosting her movements. Cleo and Kara were standing in the small crowd which had gathered, grinning away at their friend's resemblance to a firecracker.

Kara slunk away to the adjacent room. All the dancing and music were making her head spin. She leaned against the doorway. On the far side of the room, a game of pool was being played. Even from here, she could distinguish Will's head; he was one of the few slightly taller people. He was winning it seemed, and the spectators cheered as he put another ball away. She decided to join them. The opponents were Chris Lourel, the host, and some other boy who she didn't recognise; she didn't know the rules of the game but she was pretty sure usually there was only two players.

The game carried on, and it would have been fun to watch if Kara didn't feel so weird. She had a nagging afterthought about the Heart because she felt it resurface from inside her chest every once in a while. It wasn't glowing this time, but it was acting strangely. It hadn't been so active as long as she'd had it. The map was heavy in her small over-shoulder bag. What if something was going on with Tia and her mom? She was beginning to get worried if they should have insisted to aid the royals in their task.

Her worries were answered by the Heart.

It started to glow slowly but surely, illuminating itself under Kara's shirt. She grabbed the jewell and shove it into her pocket quickly. Nobody had noticed because they were all absorbed in the game. She made a bee-line for the bathroom - it was the only place where she could look at the map without anyone seeing it. Once she locked the door, she pulled the map out and hung the Heart over it. The default red cross which signified her location appeared exactly on the spot where Chris' house was. There were no blue crosses to show portals opening anywhere.

Kara breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe the Heart was just full of energy since they hadn't used their powers recently. They transformed all the time to go to Meridian, but that didn't mean they used their powers as often. Kara was about to fold the map but a small movement caught her eye. A new cross was appearing where the abandoned train station was, but this time the cross wasn't blue; it was an emerald green. Kara's eyes widened. This had never happened before. What did it mean?

She panicked and did the only thing she could. She reached out to the others through their telepathy - Ashley was easiest to reach and she could broadcast the message.

"Guys! Emergency; there's something on the map. Meet me in the alley outside. ASAP." she concentrated on thinking it, though badly wanted to shout something incomprehensible. Then she thought something else: Will. He wouldn't have heard the message. She pushed away the rising panic in her chest and went to find him. He was still playing though he looked incredibly bored. Good, Kara thought. She got close enough and he noticed her immediately. She motioned her head to the door. His brow scrunched in confusion. Unluckily, Chris also noticed. He was sipping from a red cup as the other guy attempted to hit a ball. Chris smiled and beckoned her over.

"Hey, Harley!" he balanced himself a little with his stick; he was clearly drunk and out of it. Kara wondered how he was even playing such a game if he was drunk. Chris clapped Will on the shoulder, who looked down at the hand with a frown. "Yo, everyone, my main man Will's dating Harley Quinn!" nobody paid any attention to Chris. "Why'd you never tell me, bro?" he laughed. Will stepped away gently. Chris' comment was entirely ignored.

"What is it?" he asked Kara.

"We gotta go. Like now." she tried to speak with her eyes as much as possible because Chris was within earshot. He tried to lean on his stick a little, but failed miserably.

"Bro, don't leave now, you're winning." he slurred. Will internally rolled his eyes and turned to Chris with a smile.

"Thanks for the good time, man, but I gotta go." Will shrugged. Chris wasn't understanding. "Dude, my woman needs me." he added for good measure. He'd probably get punched for that later, but now it was all about leaving quickly and politely whilst raising no suspicion. Chris nodded knowingly. The poor guy was too drunk to care anyway, so what was the point?

"Alright, I get it. See ya!" he said with a grin.

Kara was fuming but she let it slide. She knew Will didn't mean anything by it. They left quickly, weaving between fellow party goers. The others were waiting for them outside.

"What's wrong?" Cleo asked as soon as Kara came outside. The group got together in a circle to listen. It was possibly a million decibels quieter out there.

"There's something weird on the map. It's not like any other portal we've seen so far. It's green." Kara pulled the map out and showed everyone. The others stood in silence, exchanging glances. Will seemed the most confused about the whole thing.

"That's odd, I go there all the time-"

"What?" Ashley asked. She still remembered the time they went to the station in one of their first time transforming as guardians. They all remembered how freaked out they were by it too.

"Yeah, it's one of the best places to open a portal without being noticed..." Will was aware of the five girls glaring at him. "What?"

"We had to close a portal there once, was it one of yours?" Kara asked.

"Well, yeah, but in my defence you guys got there before I could close it."

"At least this time we know for sure it's not one of yours." Cleo said.

"Yes, but if it's not, then whose is it?" Will wondered.

"Let's go find out. Guardians unite." the transformation was quick and in a dark alley behind the house, there was no one to possibly witness it. "And you-" Kara turned to Will. "Close your own goddamn portals. We're not your maids."


	23. Chapter 23

Upon arriving at the scene of the ambient portal, the gang stopped at the furthest door to the rails; the furthest away from the glowing green light. If anyone was around, then they'd meet them outside, at an advantage. Ashley and Mei Lin were first to land at the site. Kara was keeping the map in hand to keep an eye on their target. There was an incredible stillness to the abandoned station; an almost creepy quietness that couldn't possibly be helped by the strange emerald illumination of the portal. They could not see anyone around. The group landed stealthily, nobody daring speak out loud yet. The girls were communicating without Will, who was still in Shagon form, in the loop.

 _"If this is a horror film, I ain't gonna be the first to go, you guys. Take Cleo, she's the blond."_ Ashley whisper-shouted through her telepathic radio broadcast. Cleo turned to glare at the redhead.

 _"Gee, thanks, Ash. Really appreciate it. It's fine though, I can't sense anything - there's no one here."_ Cleo walked toward the green light. She closed her eyes and opened her mind towards the great emptiness of the area. It was so ghostly, her mind scouring through every dust particle and finding no signs of life. All except the seemingly vibrating energy of the sizeable green portal. _"All clear."_

"Okay, we can relax now. Let's split up and look for clues." Kara walked further than Cleo to the portal, keeping a steady hand over the map.

"Alright! Scooby Doo time. I call dibs on being Shaggy." Will changed back into himself, or well his Halloween/ Viking self. He walked up to Kara and tagged along with her. As she got closer, the red cross neared the identical green one. Cleo and Mei Lin walked down in the opposite direction, following the tracks, whilst Natalia and Ashley took to the main part of the train station.

Cleo and Mei Lin reached the end of the tracks in the farthest side of the platform area; they had found nothing but dust, garbage the wind had blown in as well as leaves. Nothing there. Ashley and Natalia were looking around the main part of the station, all of it immersed in the deep moonlight coming from the crumbling high ceiling above them - they had been there before, all those weeks ago closing a lazy Shagon's portal and being freaked out over some rat skeletons. This time they were prepared and flew over instead. They passed the strange symbol, its trident and potential claw marks still there in all their glory. Something about it made the girls uneasy and they flew past without staring at it for too long. Back at the portal, Will and Kara were trying to gauge if anyone or anything had gone through the portal, either direction, however there were no tracks in the surrounding mixture of dust and dirt on the floor.

The emerald portal hadn't been closed yet; Kara wanted to see if it could give them any clue as to where it was from. Will had said it must be from one of the many dimensions of the veil universe, though he ruled out Meridian and Kandrakar. He didn't know a whole lot of other dimensions, so he was stumped. The others soon returned and congregated around the portal, looking at it face on, mesmerised by the emerald light exuding from the circular pit. It was Natalia who said what some of the group was thinking:

"We should go through it. See where it leads." she said.

"Listen, not that it wouldn't be a thrilling task, but how about we close it and move on? If it shows up again, then we can check it out." Mei Lin suggested sheepishly. Her grandma had not spared her a lot of gruesome details in the bedtime stories that she had told her over the years of what strange and evil things the old guardians had encountered in their guardian careers. Mei Lin had enjoyed the stories because before all _this_ , that's all it had been - _stories_. Now it was awfully real and Mei Lin was in the exact position to find some of those unknown horrors on her own. She wasn't sure she wanted to do that quite yet.

"Mei Lin's right, who knows what mess we could get ourselves into? What if we can't get back?" Cleo asked. She was thinking about what her family would think. If they went missing, what would the town think? No one said anything for a moment. "As guardians it's our duty to fight evil and protect the veil, but how do we fight something that we don't know about?" she continued.

"The only way to know, is to try and find out." Kara was adamant. She was scared too, but she knew in her gut, that with all of them there, they could figure this out. And Cleo was absolutely on point for saying it was their duty to fight evil - and this portal oozed some very strange and potentially evil vibrations.

"It's okay ladies, I'll protect you." Will chuckled to himself. He strode forward and transformed into Shagon. A metre in front of the portal he turned around, the emerald light making his golden mask glow uncannily. "Ready?"

Kara walked up to Shagon. His general hugeness and large wings somewhat dwarfed her, yet she stood tall, and said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Let's go." and she led them into the green light. After Kara and Shagon, it was Natalia who followed, then Ashley. Mei Lin and Cleo looked at each other, each of them slightly uncertain, then crossed into the light.

No one could have prepared them for the sight that they were greeted with. The new world around them was covered in snow. Deep, thick, and boundless snow. The stinging, white frosting covered every inch of land in every direction - it was what would probably be a normally peaceful base of a mountain with few trees and no grass at all, though right now it was a scarily dormant, white winter land. The air was rigid, stiff, an almost asphyxiating stillness, as was the rest of the mountainside.

The only disturbance was the shimmering green portal, still buzzing quite lonesome in all the majesty of this nordic-esque dimension. The guardians stood stock still once they had landed. Not even Will moved a muscle. They were all transfixed by the vigorous silence in the picture perfect place. The murky grey mountain beside them loomed overhead, seeming not grave, but overbearing instead.

"We're not in Kansas any more." Ashley whispered. Her voice didn't carry much further than a foot from her face - it was stifled by the thickness of the freezing air which engulfed this world. It was not like Earth snow - this was something foreign - something more ancient, more powerful.

"Where could we be?" Will murmured. He was entranced by the deathly beauty of the land, yet his mind was working a million miles an hour, trying to come up with a name to this place. He could not. He looked around him. Mountains, snow, rocks, almost no trees, if there were any rivers or streams, they would be frozen and covered with snow just like every other thing there.

"I think we should go back before we freeze to death." Mei Lin felt a heavy dread forming around her as she could not sense any sort of breeze, let alone full blown wind, at all, and the air was intense, the thick, fog-likeness seeping into her lungs like an intruder. That's exactly what they were here - intruders.

"Snow means tracks, and tracks could lead us somewhere." Kara piped up. She had been struck silent by this wondrous place. She willed herself to take a few steps. It was difficult so she flew instead, looking for any disturbance in the snow yet found nothing. She didn't have to go far - past the shimmering portal, immediately behind it, was a strange set of footprints; one set like boots, and the other like a...giant _ostrich_ maybe? Something with weird feet. They carried on for about two metres then disappeared abruptly and completely.

"Really, Kara? An ostrich?" Ashley scoffed at the word she had heard coming from her friend's mind. She flew a few feet to look at what Kara was perplexed about, but did a double take when she saw the tracks. They were pretty large. "What are _those_?"

The others gathered around the disturbed snow with wide eyes.

"Whatever it was, it's long gone." Natalia hovered close to the tracks, inspecting them. The earth beneath them felt dead to her. In fact, the land all around them was completely empty - there were no life forms in the dirt as they should have been, and certainly no wildlife that she could feel around. Natalia didn't like the soullessness of nature here. It was too dead. Too silent.

"We should follow it. It clearly goes in that direction, maybe it'll lead somewhere." Ashley pointed in the direction of where the tracks disappeared. It led off into a sparse forest, whereas behind them loomed the mountain.

"Hey guys, come look!" Cleo, who had been hanging back from the group noticed something wedged in the snow, it was a small black trinket half buried in the thick, white powder. Carefully Cleo landed next to it and went to pick it up.

"No! Don't! Let me." Mei Lin yelped from behind the blond. She went over to her friend, took a deep breath and blew in the direction of the trinket. The snow surrounding it and on top of it shifted; Mei Lin underestimated the power of her breeze, as the snow started to form a mini, two-foot blizzard. She let the snow flakes fall gently, then lifted the trinket by using her powers over the air. It rose into the air, revealing itself for what it was. The girls gasped.

It was a trident.

Just like the trident from the symbol on the wall back at the station. Except in necklace form. Mei Lin held it there as the other gathered to look.

"I can't believe this." Will said. Five heads turned in his direction. He stared at the necklace, unmoving.

"Would you care to elaborate?" Kara snapped. Will snapped out of his trance, and cleared his throat.

"Uh...it's an ancient symbol, used in some parts of the veil for invoking or calling on spirits." he paused. "It's been highly debated by sorcerers whether it works, and it's more of a myth if you like; something that parents scare their children with in bedtime stories. Legend has it, if used correctly, it can summon anything - dead or alive."

"So it's not really dangerous?" Mei Lin asked.

"I didn't say that." Will shook his head. "I think we need to find out how it's connected to this place."

"And how the it ended up on Earth. And why." Kara concluded.

"Our only source is Meridian. We should ask the Queen or maybe even someone in Kandrakar." Natalia suggested.

"I think we should take it and get out of here." Cleo said. The pendant whilst suspended in mid-air was exuding a lot of energy. It was how she'd found it in this dead stillness. Cleo wanted to understand it. Kara nodded.

"How about we wrap it in something? I don't think we should be touching it."

"How's this?" Cleo raised her hand. Around the pendant, a shape of water appeared. Cleo moulded it into a cube, encompassing the trident and suspending it in water. It was pitch black, like it was made of a black metal. "Mei Lin? A little help?"

Mei Lin send another shot of air toward the cube, this time crystallising the shape; it was like a clear diamond containing the trinket.

"Neat." Ashley dead panned. "Now can we go? I have a strange urge to melt all of this snow." the fiery redhead started towards the portal.

"There's no use in exploring this place. It's a dead end. Let's go." Will followed Ashley into the portal. The others glanced back at the winter land and did the same. It was too cold, too dangerous, and too silent for their liking. Perhaps a task for another time. They had plenty on their hands with that symbol. They would have to go over records in Meridian, do research, find whatever they could about it. And keep a close eye on the station and the traffic taking place there...


End file.
